Hearts, Souls and Shadows
by Shadow's Mirror
Summary: An item with the power to control the Shadow Magic is in evil hands. A second item has been turned to evil. Two more items waver, undecided. A battle is brewing. Champions will be needed. Heroes will be found. The Shadow Realm will never be the same.
1. The Concerns of the Sons

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

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Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 1: Concerns of the Sons  
By Shadow's Mirror

The magician leaned over the thin band of silver lying on his workbench, peering at it through his magnifying lens and muttering to himself. "Yes. Yes. This looks good. The spells are holding within it this time. I'm close. This is the one. I can feel it. This time I will succeed." 

The door at the other end of the room creaked open and the magician waved one hand, not needing to look to know who had entered his sanctuary. At this time of night, there was only one it could be. "Come in, my son! Come and witness your father's finest achievement!"

The tall youth, who looked to be in his mid-teens, came forward slowly. His father frowned slightly as he heard the hesitation in his son's footsteps. "What's this? You doubt me?" 

"No father. I do not doubt you. Nor do I doubt your power." As his father smiled at the words, the youth sighed and continued. "But I doubt the men who have asked you to do this. I do not think they are who they claim to be. I think their words false and their intent nothing more than deception." He finished in a rush as his father whirled, glaring angrily at him. 

The magician placed his lens carefully on his workbench before he began walking towards his son, his stern gaze locked with the boy's anxious eyes. "Am I not a mighty magician? Have I not served our beloved Pharaoh faithfully in all the years of his reign? Did I not serve his father with equal faithfulness? Did my father not serve his father, and his father before him? Has our family not always been known for the faithful loyalty that we show to our Pharaoh? And yet now… you… my oldest son… you, who I should be proudest of… you, who will one day, Gods will it, take my place as magician to the Pharaoh… You would have me turn away from my duty to our Pharaoh? And for what? Your belief that it is not the Pharaoh's will that I do, but that of another?"

He stopped directly in front of the boy, his eyes burning into his son's as the youth refused to look away. The bright blue of the boy's eyes remained unwavering and, for a moment, the magician doubted his convictions. But it was only for a moment, and then he silently cursed his son for creating that doubt.

His voice remained as calm and as soft as it had since he'd begun speaking. But now it was laced with bitterness and anger. "Do you truly believe me to be so old and feeble-minded that I no longer recognise the man who is head advisor to the Pharaoh? He came himself to give me this commission. He told me that no other has the skills I have. The skills our Pharaoh needs. And you would have me refuse he whom we have vowed to serve?" 

His hand lashed out, catching his son across the cheek with enough force to snap the boy's head to the side. "Be gone from my sight! I do not wish to see you here again! Not until you are willing to forget this foolish nonsense!" Turning, he strode back to his work. 

Holding his stinging cheek with his hand, the magician's son silently turned and left the room. Once outside he bowed his head and glanced back at the closed door. "No, Father. I do not believe you to be old and feeble-minded. I believe that you want to believe his words are true, and so you deny the truth that your heart tries to show you." His whispered words were balm for the wounds on his heart that were far deeper than the mark on his face. 

Sighing, the youth started down the hall. He was passing the shadowed alcove at the end of the passage when a soft voice came from within the darkness. "Big brother?"

The youth turned, a slight smile on his face as the shadows stirred and the pale face of his younger brother came into view. "What are you doing up at this late hour? You should be asleep."

The boy, who appeared to be about ten years old, shrugged and sighed. "Our sisters keep talking and I cannot sleep until they stop."

"Ah. Tell me, my brother, what pearls of wisdom have our sisters brought back from the market this day?" He sat on the narrow seat beside the boy.

"Who has fallen in love. Who has betrayed her family's honour and married beneath her station. Who will be wearing what to the next feast day. The usual. Except… They said the Pharaoh won another Shadow Game today."

"Yes. I heard that also." 

"He… is very powerful, is he not?"

"He is. As he should be. His strength keeps Egypt strong. His power ensures that we remain at peace. As long as Egypt is at peace, so too is the peace of the Shadow Realm assured."

The boy nodded and was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Then why would the Pharaoh seek what his advisor claims he seeks? What need would the Pharaoh have for something that can give him only the power he already possesses?" He turned to his brother and reached up to lightly trace the outline of their father's hand, still visible on the older boy's cheek. "Why can Father not see the truth that you and I can see so clearly?"

The youth sighed and shook his head. "I do not know, my brother. All I know is that, unless Father sees the Pharaoh's Advisor for the power-hungry man he truly is, he will complete his task. If that happens… If such an object should fall into such evil hands… I fear, not only for the fate of the Pharaoh, but for all of Egypt, for the world beyond, and even for the Shadow Realm itself."

To be continued…


	2. Deception's Reward

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

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Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 2: Deception's Reward  
By Shadow's Mirror

Knowing of the discord between their father and younger brother, the magician's three daughters took care to keep out of their father's way. Although he adored them, and would never dream of harming them, his temper these days was so short that they dared not risk crossing him. They disliked having their usually calm lives so disrupted and took out their ire on the cause of their father's temper. Their younger brother was easy prey for their sharp tongues and sharper insults. 

Since the day of his birth, he had been the magician's pride and joy. Although in age he was the fourth born, he was the first male child and his father was determined that he would be the one to carry on his life's work. Even when he had been a mere babe, his father had taken him to his workroom each day. For the first fifteen years of his life, and a few months more, the magician's son had learned at his father's knee. But all that had changed on the night the Pharaoh's head advisor had approached the magician with a commission. 

The magician had been elated. For him, it was a chance for him to prove his worth to his Pharaoh. It was a great honour, but an even greater challenge. The thought of what he had been asked to do was daunting, but all the more exciting because of it. No one had ever attempted it before. If he were the first to do so… if he could harness the power required… he would go down in history! There was not a moment's doubt in his mind that he would succeed in his task. He would not allow himself to fail. He had been told to keep the commission to himself, and he did so, but he eagerly shared the details with his apprentice. His son.

He had expected the boy to be overjoyed at the news that he was to assist in such a momentous achievement. Even his daughters, who knew nothing of the task ahead of him except that it was for the Pharaoh and was therefore an overwhelming honour, were ecstatic at the news. But his son… 

As he had listened to his father's explanation of the task ahead of them, the boy's bright blue eyes had become troubled. The more the magician explained, the more confused he had become at his son's strange reaction. Instead of being excited or enthusiastic, the boy seemed oddly serious and even… sorrowful. Finally, the magician had asked him to explain his reaction. The boy's response had infuriated him. 

__

"I do not believe the Pharaoh would ask such a thing of you, Father. I believe the head advisor is deceiving you and wishes to use the item himself to challenge the Pharaoh's rule."

Since that day, almost eight months earlier, the magician and his son had barely spoken to each other. The boy had tried several times to convince his father to stop the creation of something that he sensed would cause nothing but chaos if it was completed, however the magician had refused to listen. The last time, barely a month earlier, he had even struck the boy! It was something that he had never done before. After that, the boy had withdrawn completely, refusing to have any further contact with his father. Since his sisters had begun berating him shortly after that, he had started avoiding them also. Indeed, he kept himself out of their way so much that he was little more than a shadow moving through the house. But he was not the only one.

The magician's youngest child was also the most forgotten. His birth had caused his mother's death and the magician had never forgiven him for that. Still, something of a relationship might have been salvaged, if not for the fact that the child had his mother's strange silvery-grey eyes. His father could not bear to even look at him. 

His sisters ignored him, for the most part. When they did notice him, it was only to taunt or berate him. His nurse, for he had one until he was two years old, had treated him much the same. She had done only what was necessary to ensure his survival. But on his second birthday, something wonderful had happened. The nurse had been dismissed and he had been put in his sisters' care.

They had been dismayed by the decision and had voiced their displeasure. In the midst of the argument their brother, who was only seven at the time, had gone to his little brother and picked him up. He had turned to their father and said only one word. "Mine." The sisters had been quick to agree and their father, although not pleased about it, had ended up giving in to their pleading. In truth though, it had been the boy's steady gaze that had made him agree. There had been something in those bright blue orbs that had made the magician more than a little uneasy. 

Ever since that day, the two brothers had been inseparable. The younger one shadowed his older brother wherever he went and one was rarely seen without the other. When the magician and his son argued, the sisters sided with their father, but no one thought it important to find out what the youngest child thought. Indeed, by that point, father and sisters barely remembered that the child even existed. Neither of the boys reminded them. 

As the days passed and the magician grew ever closer to completing his commission, the tension in the house had grown. By the night that his jubilant shout echoed from his workroom, the tension within the magician's home was so thick it could have been sliced with a blade. 

* * *

At the triumphant cry, the three girls woke and smiled at each other in smug relief. Now that Father was finished, he would be important and they were sure to gain more attention as a result. Also, the silly feud between him and their younger brother was sure to end once the stupid boy saw how pleased the Pharaoh was with his gift. 

In the room next door to their sisters', the two boys lying on the pallet on the hard stone floor looked at each other. Neither of them had been asleep. Sensitive to both the growing tension and the powerful magic that had been gathering around their father's workroom for the past few days, they had known that the time was almost upon them. 

"Big brother, I do not think Father will listen. If you try again, I fear what he might do to you." 

The soft voice was filled with sorrow and fear. The older boy's heart echoed his younger brother's emotions, but he knew that he had to stay strong. He reached out, his hand clasping the child's in a reassuring hold. "I know. Although my heart tells me to try one final time, my mind knows it will do no good. He is determined to do this and I have not the strength to stop him."

An icy chill swept through their hearts at the words and they shivered and instinctively drew closer to each other for warmth and comfort. "He will come tonight." The little boy's voice was heavy with the pain the certainty of his words brought him. 

"Yes. Even then, Father will not see the truth. If the advisor's errand were true, there would be no need for such secrecy. The advisor skulks in the shadows. If he was truly working in the Pharaoh's service, he would be striding through the light, as the Pharaoh does."

The sound of running footsteps passed by outside and the two boys traded a knowing look in the faint moonlight streaming through the room's narrow window. The Pharaoh's advisor had sent a man there a few days ago, a runner who was charged with the duty of reporting to the advisor when the magician's task was accomplished. Considering how little time had passed between the magician's triumphant cry and the runner's deployment, it was clear that their Father had no doubts about what he was doing. 

The two boys lay in the darkness, listening to their sisters' excited voices until they faded away and then listening to the sounds of night in the Pharaoh's great city. Neither of them slept. 

* * *

The Pharaoh's head advisor arrived shortly before dawn. 

Although he was trying to be inconspicuous, both boys' senses were so finely attuned to the night that they had no trouble hearing him as he approached the house. Moving silently, they got up and crept to the window to watch. 

A tall figure emerged from the shadows. The advisor was enveloped by a hooded black cape in an obvious attempt to blend in with the night and remain unseen. He strode confidently to the door of the magician's workroom, but his knock was feather-light. He clearly did not wish to be overheard. Even when the magician opened the door and ushered him inside, he did not remove his hood. 

He was inside for only a few minutes before he emerged again. As he strode back to the waiting shadows, he swiftly concealed a package beneath his robes. The two watchers sighed heavily. They did not need to speak to know what the other was thinking. All hope that their father would come to his senses was now lost. 

The little boy slipped his hand into his big brother's. "Now what should we do?" 

The elder boy shook his head. "We can only wait and watch, for now. When Father sees the consequences of what he has done… His actions will dictate our own."

"Do you think the advisor will kill him?" There was no emotion in the small voice. It was simply a question that needed to be asked. The elder boy gently squeezed his brother's hand.

"No. I do not. The advisor will need someone to take the blame if his plans should fail. Who better than the man who created the item in question? Also, the advisor knows that Father will keep his silence, even when he finds out the truth. To do otherwise would be to admit treason against the Pharaoh, and that means death. Even if Father did choose such a fate, the advisor has only to deny Father's accusations and he will be believed. At the moment, Father is more valuable alive than dead. With his knowledge and skill, I have no doubt that the advisor will seek him out for any further… commissions that he requires."

The two boys were silent for a long time. The sun began to rise and they stared out the window as the sky began to lighten, then darken until it was a blood-red hue. 

"It is a warning of what lies ahead." The younger boy's voice was steady, although whisper-soft.

"Yes. Blood will be spilled." The older boy had barely finished speaking when a distant scream shattered the dawn silence. He sighed heavily and slipped his arm around his brother's thin shoulders, pulling him close as the child shivered. 

"So it begins…" they both whispered together.

To be continued…


	3. Uncorrupted Hearts

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Judging by the lack of reviews, I'm guessing that readers are finding this story rather dull so far. I only hope you persist in reading it, because the story's description isn't a lie. It's just that I haven't reached the good parts yet ^_^

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Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 3: Uncorrupted Hearts  
By Shadow's Mirror

Three months had passed since the magician had fulfilled his commission for the Pharaoh's advisor, believing his task to have been set by the Pharaoh himself. Three months since he had placed his trust, and an object of incredible power, in the hands of a man who had deceived him. Three months in which all of Egypt had paid the price for the magician not heeding the counsel of his eldest son, who had seen through the advisor's lies and tried to warn his father.

Before the sun had fully risen on that first fateful day, the Pharaoh's advisor had used the object that he had tricked the magician into creating for him. The creatures of the shadows had obeyed his will and Chaos had walked the streets of the Pharaoh's city, leaving death and destruction in its wake. 

Arriving at the palace, the advisor had challenged the Pharaoh to a Shadow Game. At stake had been the rule of all Egypt. Not knowing the full extent of his advisor's new power, the Pharaoh had agreed… and lost. The advisor had exiled him from Egypt. There were rumours however that he had not truly gone, but was instead imprisoned within the palace… a slave to the one who had once served him. Whatever the truth, the advisor had claimed the Pharaoh's rule for himself. 

He was Pharaoh now. The ultimate power in the land. Anyone who dared speak out against him was immediately either sentenced to death, imprisoned, or challenged to a Shadow Game that none had yet survived. The sentence depended on the whim of the Pharaoh at the time. 

* * *

Realising the terrible mistake he had made, and fearing for his life, the magician had taken his family and gone into hiding. Late one night, they had fled their comfortable home and now resided in a much smaller dwelling on the other side of town. Although there was barely enough room for the six of them to live there, the magician had appropriated one room for his own use. He had barely stepped out of it since. Day and night, his five children could hear him muttering to himself as he worked feverishly to find a solution to the problem that his foolish pride had helped to cause. 

Life was no longer as comfortable as it had once been and the magician's three daughters were not at all pleased about it. Not only had they been forced to leave many of their belongings behind when they fled their home, but their father had forbidden them to go out in the city as they once had. They had never realised what freedom they had been allowed until it was denied to them. 

Angry and bitter at their father for the mistake that he had made and the price they were being forced to pay with him, the three girls spent most of their time sitting in the room they had claimed as theirs, reminiscing over the past, complaining about the present and wondering what the future held in store for them. Beyond their curtailed freedom and reduction in material possessions though, the girls' lives really weren't that much different. Although they complained constantly about the changes, they made sure that they did not suffer too much. They kept the best food for themselves and their room was as comfortable as they could make it, even though they shuddered at the sight of it and claimed it was 'hideous'. 

The small building contained only three rooms. The magician's workroom, which doubled as his sleeping quarters for the few hours of rest that he allowed himself each night, the girls' slightly smaller room and a tiny kitchen. There was also a curtained area off the kitchen that was usually used for storage. It was only two feet deep by about four feet wide, barely enough room for two people to sit side by side, and yet it was the only place left for the magician's two sons to sleep. 

The magician had given no thought to the household beyond ensuring that he had an adequate workroom and the girls had refused to share their chamber with their brothers. They had claimed that there wasn't enough room, but in truth the chamber would have been comfortable even with all five siblings within it. 

Fortunately, the weather had been warm and dry, so the boys spent most of their nights sleeping up on the flat roof, underneath the stars. It was actually rather pleasant and they both enjoyed staring up at the night sky as they drifted off into sleep. It was definitely preferable to being kept up all night by their sisters' incessant chatter and complaining. As it was, on most nights they could make out their sisters' voices coming through the thin walls. 

There was one other advantage to sleeping on the roof. It allowed the boys to keep a closer eye on what was going on in the rest of the city than if they'd been inside. Many a night, they lay close to the edge, hidden by the shadows as they listened to the conversation of passing soldiers or thieves. In that part of the city, there were quite a few thieves but since their targets were the wealthy homes or even the tombs, they were never any bother. They were an excellent source of information though. Especially since one of their rendezvous points was the alley that ran beside the magician's house. 

It was from those overheard conversations that the boys learned of the fear and dissatisfaction filling the hearts of the city's inhabitants. No one liked the new Pharaoh, for he was a cruel and greedy man who demanded everything and gave the people nothing in return. The stories that were beginning to circulate throughout the city about how he treated his slaves and concubines left a bitter taste in the mouths of all who told them. There were also rumours that the new Pharaoh had sudden bursts of rage and that there were times when his orders made very little sense and he seemed to be indulging himself in some whim or another, usually at the expense of someone's life.

These rumours greatly worried the two boys. Such power as the new Pharaoh now commanded as a result of his use of the item he held… surely there was a price to be paid for it? Could these rages and whims be the beginnings of the insanity that so often came from exposure to the powers of the Shadow Realm? Many a magician and priest had been driven insane as a result of the games, most from giving too much of their souls to the shadows in bargains to gain control over more powerful monsters. Where greed and Shadow Magic mixed, insanity and chaos were often the result. 

As the months passed though, another worry began to gnaw at the boys' minds. They were more than just the sons of a magician; they had some talent in that area themselves. Both boys could easily sense the Shadow Magic as it gathered around their father's workroom and they also felt the pull of the arcane forces that their father was attempting to bend to his will. They had felt such things before, when their father had made the item for the man who was now the Pharaoh.

* * *

The younger boy stirred, something waking him from his uneasy sleep. He turned, his eyes searching the darkness for his brother's familiar form until he saw him standing on the other side of the roof, directly above their father's workroom. The boy sat up, realising as he did so what had woken him. The power that had been gathering for the past few weeks was almost completely gone! Suddenly wide awake, the boy scrambled to his feet and moved silently across to his brother. 

"Big brother, Father has done it again." His voice was as soft as the light breeze that ruffled their hair and robes, but his brother heard it all the same. 

"Yes… although I am uncertain if he has done exactly the same thing as before." Sensing his younger brother's surprise, the magician's son explained. "I know there is a new item. I woke just as the power was being drawn into it. However, it felt… different, somehow. That troubles me. Father has told me nothing of his plans, but he seems to believe the answer lies in creating another item, rather than in finding a way to bind the power of the item he has already made."

"But… wouldn't another item just create more trouble?" The younger boy was confused. He agreed with his brother. If the Shadow Magic in the first item was bound, then the new Pharaoh would be rendered powerless and he could easily be overthrown. What use would another item be?

"Perhaps… or perhaps Father has given this item the ability to seal the powers of the other item. I believe we will find out what he plans in the morning." He pointed over the edge of the roof and his brother looked down. There was no light to be seen, which meant that their father had retired to bed. "He is not as eager to reveal this item's creation as he was with the first one," the magician's son commented with a wry smile before turning to his brother and slipping his arm around the boy's thin shoulders. 

"Come, my brother. We had best try to sleep. There is something ominous in the air tonight. I think we will need all of our wits about us tomorrow."

The younger boy nodded, understanding. He too sensed the strange heaviness in the air. It was as though the city was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. 

* * *

"Gather round, my children! I have exciting news!" The magician was all smiles as he stood in the doorway of his workroom. His daughters eagerly hurried to him, hope in their eyes. 

"What is it Father? Has something happened?" the eldest daughter asked, her sharp eyes scanning her father's face as she tried to judge his mood. He seemed happy, which was strange to her since she didn't see anything for him to be happy about. They were holed up in a miserable hovel, living like the lowest class in the city and he was smiling! Surely it must be wondrous news indeed.

"Are we going home?" the middle sister asked anxiously. She hated having to live in such squalor and not being able to go out into the city was almost unbearable. She hadn't seen her friends in so long! What if all of the cute boys who had been paying her so much attention before all of this had already found other girls to fuss over? Oh, but surely they were waiting for her return. She smiled smugly as she thought about how happy they would be to see her again.

"Did you buy a camel?" The magician's smile slipped and there was a moment of silence as he and the other two girls blinked in confusion at the youngest daughter. She blinked back at them. "My friend Abudi's father bought a camel and then her family left the city. I thought we might be going too," she explained with a shrug. It made perfect sense to her. After all, there wasn't any point in staying if they had to live in such a noisy, smelly part of the city. Especially since they didn't even have their nice things with them! She really missed her collection of ribbons, baubles and trinkets.

"Ah… no, my sweet, we are not leaving our city. We are going home, however!" The magician smiled as his announcement was met with three squeals of excitement and three females immediately flung themselves into his arms for swift hugs before the excited girls started chattering away so happily that he had to raise his voice to be heard over their sweet voices. "Pack your things quickly, my loves, we are returning home this very day!" 

As the girls' eagerly began to obey, their brother's voice cut through the noise and brought them all halting in their tracks as they paused to glare at him for his insolence.

"Why, Father? What has changed during the night that we can now return to our home?" 

The magician frowned as he looked across the room. He hadn't noticed his son's arrival. No… both his sons' arrivals, he mentally corrected himself as he noticed the small figure standing behind his eldest son. He shifted uneasily, immediately uncomfortable beneath their steady gazes. He didn't like the feeling. It also irritated him that they didn't show him the respect that he deserved. His anger was barely controlled as he replied sharply. 

"I have created something that will protect us from the Pharaoh. He will not dare to harm us now, so it is safe for us to resume our regular lives once more." With that, he abruptly left the room.

The three girls sniffed disdainfully and glared at their brothers as they also left, heading for their rooms to pack what few belongings they had been allowed to bring with them from home. Within moments, the air was filled with their excited and happy laughter and chatter.

The magician's two sons stood silently for a moment longer before they glanced at each other and turned to gather together their things. Neither one was happy about their father's announcement. It wasn't what he had said that had them worried, but rather what he had not said. They both knew that there had to be more to this than he was saying. The amount of power that they had sensed being gathered and used over the past few months… This new item of their father's was far too strong to be intended merely as protection against the Pharaoh. 

"What do you think Father has done?" the younger boy asked softly.

"I do not know. Perhaps Father intends to wield this item himself. Perhaps it is only for protection, but he made it strong enough to withstand anything that the Pharaoh's item could do." The older boy paused, looking thoughtful. "Or perhaps Father has found a way to bind the Pharaoh's power and that is what this item is for." He sighed heavily. "We will have to wait and see."

* * *

The girls were very pleased to be home again. They raced to their chamber and immediately began making plans to go out and visit with their long-neglected friends. In the room next door, the two boys grinned at their sisters' preoccupation. Some things never changed. They expertly tuned out their sisters' voices as they began putting away their things. 

A sudden change in the pitch and tone of the girls' voices caught the older boy's attention and he paused, listening intently for a moment before touching his younger brother's shoulder to alert him. Both boys pressed their ears to the walls and listened. 

"But Father! Why can't we go out? You said that we were safe from the Pharaoh now!" The magician's middle daughter pouted as she dropped down onto her pallet in disappointment. 

"Please Father, can't we just go out for a little while? It's been so long since we saw any of our friends. They will be wondering where we are. I'm surprised that they have not already tried to find us!" The eldest sister was also the cleverest, and the best at getting what she wanted. She had turned manipulation of the male species into an artform. She knew that the magician would not like anyone wondering about the girls' whereabouts and he especially disliked it when their friends came over. The girls' friends were so awed by the magician that they made him quite uneasy.

"Patience, my beloved jewels. I did not mean that you could not go out at all. I merely wish you all to remain here today. Tomorrow, you may all go and do whatever you wish." 

The girls squealed so loudly that the two boys winced and jerked away from the wall as their ears protested at the noise. They resumed listening in time to catch their father interrupt the girls as they thanked him. 

"The reason for the delay is that I have a present for each of you, but you need to get used to them before it is safe for you to wear them out. I will show you how to use them now and you must practice with them all day today." When the girls began to protest at that, the magician's voice took on a firm tone that he very rarely used with them. "No! No arguments! If you do not do this, then I will give two of them to your brothers and keep the third for myself, instead!" The girls went silent with shock at this announcement. The boys were also stunned… and suddenly very worried.

The silence continued until it was broken by three astonished gasps. Apparently the magician had given the girls their presents. 

"Oh Father… it is beautiful!" 

"I've never seen anything so lovely!"

"Just look at how mine sparkles!" 

"Now my loves, listen closely. These are not ordinary gifts. Each one holds a great deal of power. In fact, each holds a little more than one third of the amount of power that is in the item that the Pharaoh holds." The girls gasped. "Yes, I see that you realise how valuable these gifts are. It is important that you know how to use them. That is what I am going to show you now."

"But Father… we do not know anything about… magic and that sort of thing." The youngest of the magician's daughters dared to speak her anxiety.

"Do not worry, my love. It is not necessary that you do. These items respond to the hearts of those who wear them, so their powers are controlled by your thoughts and wishes rather than any talent for the Shadow Magic that runs within your blood. Such talent would make the items a little easier to control, but I am confident that your natural abilities in that area will emerge once you are more used to dealing with such power. In the meantime, with these three items safe in your hands, the Pharaoh will be unable to harm us. Together, the three of you are stronger than he is!" 

As the magician began instructing his daughters how to use their new powers, he was unaware that his two sons were in the next room, listening closely to everything he said with identical looks of shocked horror on their faces.

* * *

Late that night, the younger boy sat up as his older brother silently entered the room. "Did you find it?" he asked, taking care to speak softly so his sisters would not hear him over their chatter. It was long past the time when the three girls usually fell silent, but they were apparently all too excited to sleep that night. After all, it wasn't every day that their father gave them powerful magic items and showed them how to access that power to do whatever they wanted!

The older boy dropped onto his pallet and waited until his younger brother crawled over to him before responding. "Yes. I found it." 

The younger boy sighed, his brother's tone telling him that the news was not good. Still, he had to ask. He had to know just how bad the situation was. "And?" 

"According to Father's journal, the three items are designed to balance the Pharaoh's item. Together, they are a match for its power, but it goes further than that. They also have the power to cancel out anything that the Pharaoh's item does."

The younger boy thought for a moment. "Well… that sounds all right so far."

"Yes, that part will be of great use. It is the rest of it that will be the problem." The elder boy sighed. "The Pharaoh's item is neither good, nor evil. It merely acts in accordance with the mind of its master. These new items are different. They are linked to their bearer's souls. The purer the soul, the more control the bearer will have over the item, and the more power that may be drawn from it. If a soul is tainted, then the items will not work correctly. They will still cancel out the Pharaoh's item, but that is all they will do. The situation would be locked in a stalemate with neither side able to gain the upper hand."

The younger boy sat in dazed silence for several long moments. "But… how could Father do that and then give the items to…" He trailed off, his wide eyes looking up at his big brother in shock.

"Father only sees what he wishes to see. He wants our sisters to be all that is virtuous, gentle, loving and good-natured, and so that is how he sees them. Of course, when he is around, that is usually how they are…" the older boy added dryly and his brother nodded. They were both well aware of how all three girls manipulated their father into letting them have their own way. As long as they were well behaved in front of him, he would give them anything they asked for. It was only when he wasn't watching that they showed their true natures. 

The magician's son sighed heavily. "So… as long as our sisters' hearts are uncorrupted, their power will be stronger than the Pharaoh's and an opportunity may arise to deal with him once and for all."

From the next room, the middle sister's voice suddenly came loud and clear. "I can't wait until I show this to all my friends! They will be so jealous! And their boyfriends will probably want to be with me instead of them. I mean, who would want to be with someone ordinary when they could be with someone who controls this kind of power?" 

The sound of a slap rang out, followed by the middle sister's cry and the eldest sister's cold voice. "You little fool! If you do that, you'll put us all in danger! We'll have all kinds of thieves trying to steal our items! You might want to give up your item, but I have big plans for mine. I am not giving it up for anything!" 

Bright blue eyes locked with silvery-grey eyes and the two boys shared a heavy sigh. The younger one voiced both their thoughts. 

"Egypt is doomed."

To be continued…


	4. The Passage of Time

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 1: Text in **bold** is being emphasised.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: This is part of my special Christmas update, a thank-you gift for everyone who's reading my stories. I've updated all five of my ongoing Yu-Gi-Oh! stories and posted a one-shot Christmas fic too. Merry Christmas everyone!

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 4: The Passage of Time**  
By Shadow's Mirror

Five long years had passed since the Pharaoh's rule had been usurped by a power-hungry tyrant bent on controlling the world. For the possessor of a powerful mystical item that controlled the vast energies of the Shadow Realm, it should have been more than enough time for his plans to succeed. But the years had passed with little turmoil or change. Indeed, it was almost as though the evil ruler had been defeated and the true Pharaoh returned to his rightful place.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

The tyrant's power was great, but five years earlier an unexpected obstacle had revealed itself. A magical force that rivaled his own in strength had begun to work against him, defying his will and bringing all of his schemes crashing down. Every time the evil Pharaoh tried to use his power, the other force countered his spells and reversed their effects, rendering them useless to him. Despite having all of the Shadow Magic at his command, this other force had made him virtually powerless.

When he had first realised what was happening, the Pharaoh had tried to seek out and destroy the source of the power, but he had failed. Although he had discovered the source easily enough, he could not destroy it, since its power blocked his own. Angered beyond thought, beyond restraint, he had sent his soldiers to try to do what he could not. They too had failed... in spectacular fashion.

Apparently the source of the power could not be captured or destroyed by mere physical force. The soldiers, however, were just as vulnerable to the Shadow Magic as any other mortals. Most of them had been found outside the city walls the following morning, cowering in terror as their various fears and phobias overwhelmed them. Almost a third of them had never recovered from it.

While the Pharaoh had been infuriated by their failure, it had made him see that brute force was not the answer to his problem. He had turned instead to more stealthy means. When the third assassin was found lying broken in both mind and body outside the city walls though, he knew he was defeated. Besides, word had spread and the prices that the remaining potential assassins were asking were starting to get ridiculous.

After that, the Pharaoh had been left with only one choice. He had been forced to bide his time and wait for an opportunity to present itself. Of course, in the meantime, he was only powerless to **act** upon his dark wishes. He could still plan and scheme to his heart's content. When the day came that he could once again use his power, he would be ready for it.

- - -

From the evil Pharaoh's perspective, nothing had changed in those five long years. He had tested his power every day, and every day the same force had risen to negate his magic. The Pharaoh could feel it when it opposed his will and he knew that it always matched his magic in strength, no more, no less. That worried him. He had the uneasy feeling that the magic's source was merely toying with him. The possibility made him cautious. He did not dare risk attacking the source, in case it reacted by opposing him more openly. For it to match his power so effortlessly, surely it had to be stronger than he was. If he challenged it, there was a chance that he could lose everything he had gained. So, he waited.

What he did not realise was that the force stopping him was not being controlled. He believed that those opposing him were doing so deliberately. It never occurred to him that the items they held might be negating his power automatically. Nor did he realise that the power he was facing came from only one source. The magic that stopped his own was pure Shadow Magic, channeled through three powerful items, but not at the will of the items' bearers.

Although the magician had made many mistakes in his life, he had not gained the power he had by being ignorant of the ways of magic. He had been unable to prevent the Pharaoh's item from summoning magic entirely, but he had been able to turn the summoning into a trigger for another spell. Whenever the Pharaoh called upon the Shadow Magic, the spell activated and the three items held by the magician's own daughters immediately reacted. The girls were not required to do anything, nor did they need to have control over their items in order for the spell to work correctly. At the time of their creation, that had been necessary, for there had been no time for the girls to learn how to use their items for such a thing. That use for the power had been needed immediately.

Automating that particular spell was by far the most intelligent thing that the magician ever did, for although the years passed without change for the Pharaoh, that was not the case for the magician and his daughters.

- - -

When he had given them the items, the magician had been confident that his three beautiful and talented girls would learn to control their new items quickly and easily. He had foreseen the fall of the evil Pharaoh as soon as his daughters mastered their items enough for them to go against the tyrant in a duel. The magician had been certain that the victorious day would not be long in coming, but his dreams of the power that his daughters would command had been dashed within a month. By that time, it had been obvious that something was very wrong.

The magician had originally bound the three items to his daughters' souls. As long as their hearts were good and their souls pure, they could use the items to control the powerful magic of the Shadow Realm. But if there was any darkness in their hearts or minds, it tainted their souls and that weakened their power. Too much darkness and the items would refuse to respond entirely, except for the automated spell that stopped the evil Pharaoh's power whenever it was used. Because the girls had no control over that side of their items' magic, the spell would always oppose the Pharaoh no matter how strong, or how weak, the girls' control over their items was.

It was a good thing the spell worked in that way, because after a few weeks the girls had found that their powers were growing weaker. The dark emotions that stained their hearts were too strong for the soul-binding spell to ignore.

It had been a great shock to the magician when he had realised how tainted his three beloved daughters' souls truly were. He had believed them all to be gentle, kind and compassionate; pure of mind, heart and spirit. But the items had revealed a truth that he could not deny. All three of his daughters had been so badly tainted with darkness that their items had been weak from the moment they had received them. Within three months, all three items had refused to respond to the girls' commands at all.

By that point, the girls had well and truly reveled in their new-found abilities, and their lack of respect for the powerful magic they had commanded had resulted in more than just the darkening of their hearts and the weakening of their items.

The girls had been unable to resist showing off their new powers, and most of their so-called 'friends' had been too terrified to remain close to them. Those that had remained, had done so not out of any real loyalty, but because they had been awed by the girls and what they had been able to do. When their items had begun to fail, the girls had realised the trouble that they were in. Trying to cover up their weakening powers, they had stopped showing off. Bored, their supposed friends had quickly turned to other amusements, but the girls had been too afraid to mind all that much.

Without their items to protect them, they had been in great danger. If anyone had learned the truth... Their only hope had been that their weakness would remain undiscovered by the Pharaoh. That had left them with only one option, and it was the last thing they had wanted to do.

The girls had gone into seclusion with great reluctance. The two eldest had bitterly regretted the twist their lives had taken and they had blamed their father for it. Not only had he made the Pharaoh's item in the first place, but he had also bound their items' powers in such a ridiculous way that they were all practically useless! Confined to the house with only each other to complain to, deprived of their favourite pastimes of visiting and gossiping with their friends, their moods had quickly reached the point where even their younger sister had tried to avoid them as much as possible. Of the three, she had been the only one who accepted that their punishment was deserved.

- - -

Desperate for his daughters to be able to wield the full power of the Shadow Magic, the magician had tried everything he could think of to reverse the binding spells that he himself had cast on their items. When all his efforts failed, he had turned his attention to the girls themselves. For the first time since any of them had been born, he had looked beyond their outward appearances and seen the shadows of their hearts. He had been so shocked and disgusted by what he had seen that he had immediately taken steps to 'cleanse' them of the darkness that tainted them.

The years that had followed had not been pleasant.

For countless hours on end, the magician had forced his daughters to study 'improving texts' in a corner of his workroom. Usually, he would interrupt their reading several times a day to lecture them on proper behaviour and anything else that he thought would make them see reason. He was determined that they would become as pure and as good as he had once believed them to be.

He had been relentless in his watch over them, never allowing any of them out of his sight for more than a few moments each day. Only during the nights had he allowed them out of his presence, and even then it had only been so they could rest for another day of study and lecture.

At the end of every day, he had tested them with their items, in the hope that they had improved enough to have regained the use of them. The testing had always been followed by a loud, and often long, rant on the darkness that dwelled within them. At the end of each rant, the magician had stormed off to his room in a foul temper, while his two eldest daughters had stalked off to their room in similar frames of mind. They had dragged with them their younger sister, who had usually been reduced to tears by their father's harsh words.

- - -

For over a year, the magician's daughters were forced to endure their father's determined efforts. During that time, the two eldest girls became even more bitter and angry at the unwelcome twist their lives had taken. They became surly and unresponsive to their father. They ignored their brothers completely. As for their sister, she became the target of their nightly stream of complaints and their loud and violent temper tantrums.

With all the stress and emotion, it was not surprising that the youngest girl also changed. She became quiet and withdrawn and would emerge from the bedchamber each morning with reddened eyes and the tracks of tears fresh on her face. She also began to look pale and tired. But the most drastic change was to her appearance. Always a girl whose eager love for food had gotten the best of her figure, her unhappiness was reflected in her lack of appetite and increasing thinness.

The magician's two sons had watched all this with great concern for their youngest sister, and annoyance at their oldest sisters for their treatment of her. As their fears for their youngest sister's health grew, they began to try to help her. There was little they could do without incurring their father's wrath for interfering, but their whispered words of encouragement and their warm smiles did seem to help. At least their youngest sister began to eat more easily again. But the source of the problem remained. The girls were still unable to use their items at all.

The magician had been on the verge of desperation. He'd even begun to threaten his daughters with taking their items from them. But then something unexpected had happened.

The eldest daughter had suddenly regained the use of her item! Within a week, she went from being unable to use it at all to having complete control of its power!

A few months later, the second daughter also began to regain control of her item.

The magician had been astonished, but too overjoyed to question the girls on the reason for their power returning. He had put it down to a change of heart. Praising his two eldest daughters, he released them from the strict schedule he had been enforcing and allowed them to once again leave the confines of the house at their will. At the same time, he turned his full attention on to his youngest daughter, increasing the harshness of his lectures and the strictness of his watch in an attempt to get through to her, as he believed he had done so with her sisters.

Within a week, she too had been freed from his control, although her item remained completely unresponsive to her.

The magician had refused to speak of his reasons for releasing her from the rigid schedule however, from that moment on, he had regarded his youngest daughter with the same almost fearful disdain that he showed his eldest son, and the same total disregard he showed towards his youngest son.

- - -

A relative peace had returned to the magician's household after that. A peace that had lasted for four more years before shattering. The lives of the magician and his children shattering with it.

To be continued...


	5. Strange Happenings

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This should be the last background chapter before the action begins. For anyone wondering, yes this is a Yu-Gi-Oh! story. There will be a few familiar names and faces in it eventually, once it reaches that point.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 5: Strange Happenings**  
By Shadow's Mirror

For five years, the Pharaoh's city had been caught in the middle of a war that only a few knew was being waged. During that time, all of Egypt and the world beyond had been suspended over the brink of chaos, held motionless by three strands woven into a single thread of hope. But time had worn heavily on the thread. One of the strands had snapped in the first year and the second strand had weakened rapidly since, to the point of breaking. Only the third strand remained strong, but how long could a single strand hold out against the evil that was weighing so heavily on it?

- - -

There was a rustle of cloth outside the door, followed by the sound of light footsteps heading towards the kitchen.

The magician's eldest son pressed his ear close to the door of his room and listened carefully, his senses straining to pick up the faint sound of the outside door opening and then closing again. He frowned when the soft creak of the door came. Although he had expected it, he had hoped that he was wrong. He had hoped that one of his sisters was merely fetching herself a cup of water or something to eat. His heart sinking, he started to return to his pallet. Another sound outside his door made him pause.

More cloth rustled and another set of footsteps repeated the path just taken. Again, the creak of the door announced the fact that another of the magician's daughters had left the house.

His frown deepening, the magician's son moved slowly back to sit on his pallet. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them, his favourite position for thinking. He had a lot to think about.

- - -

It had been four years since he and his brother had begun noticing that their sisters were sneaking out of the house at night. The three girls shared the room beside the one where their brothers slept, and in the stillness of the night the slightest sound carried easily. There had been many nights when one or both of the boys had been woken by the sound of someone walking past their room. On most of those nights, the footsteps were soon followed by the creak of the outside door.

The boys had been surprised by the realisation that their sisters were sneaking out. They had never done anything like that before, but there also seemed to be no reason why they should do so at that time. The city was a dangerous place at night, with thieves and other creatures of the darkness prowling the streets. It was hardly a safe place for a young woman to walk alone. But then again, in all likelihood the girls were not alone.

Sneaking out of the house in the dead of the night, coming back with quickened steps, emerging from their room in the morning with over-bright eyes, flushed cheeks and smug smiles... All the signs pointed to the girls sneaking out to meet with lovers, except...

There was something about that explanation that didn't quite fit. It didn't quite feel right. Something about the girls going out in such secrecy made both boys very uneasy, and it was not the fact that their sisters were going behind their father's back in such a way.

It was the timing.

The eldest of the magician's sons was a very light sleeper and he was positive that he had heard every time one of his sisters had left the house. He was also positive that he could tell the difference between his three sisters' footsteps. After all, he had heard them every day for his entire life. The first time any of his sisters had left the house at night, he was certain it had been his eldest sister.

At the time, he had thought nothing of it. The girls had been unable to use their items for over a year and were restless and argumentative. He had merely assumed that she was slipping out to get some air, a small rebellion on her part against the rigid control their father was exercising with all of the girls. She had not returned for several hours and when she had, her steps had been fast and he had been able to hear her panting breaths as she had hurried past his room and into her own.

The following day, he had studied her discretely when she had emerged for breakfast. He still remembered how she had looked. Her face had been pale but her eyes had been gleaming and the expression they held had made him feel oddly chilled. It had looked like triumph, but there had been a wildness to it that had made him very uneasy.

That had been the day that his eldest sister had suddenly regained the use of the magical item the magician had given her. After over a year of being useless to her, it had responded to her command without the slightest hesitation.

She had been smug. The magician had been delighted. Her sisters had been shocked. Her brothers had been alarmed. After so long, it just didn't make any sense that she should regain her use of it so suddenly, and for no apparent reason! Their father believed that she had seen the error of her ways and her heart had become pure enough for her item to respond to her again. Her brothers knew that was not the case. Their eldest sister had not changed at all. She was still selfish, arrogant and sly.

The boys had never been able to work out what their sister had done to enable her to regain control of her item. Whatever it was though, she had apparently passed the secret on to her younger sister. A few months later, she had also regained the use of her item.

As with her older sister, she too had gone out the night before. In fact, the two of them had gone out together. The boys could only assume that whatever they were doing, it somehow restored their control over their items.

The magician's older son was deeply concerned by this. He knew that some type of magic had to be involved, which meant that the girls were probably visiting another magician. But their father, for all his faults, was a very powerful mage and the boy did not know of anyone in the city who could possibly be able to help the girls in such a way. It was a mystery and one that worried him greatly.

He had taken to listening for the girls each night, but there had been no further nightly excursions for some time. There definitely had not been one the night before the magician had abruptly given the youngest of his daughters her freedom also. The strange part was, although he had sworn that he would be relentless until her soul was purified... her item remained as unresponsive as ever.

Whatever his youngest sister had done to earn her freedom, it was not the same thing her sisters had done and it had come at a heavy price. The magician, who had once doted on all three of his 'beloved jewels' equally, now treated her with the same cold disdain that he showed to his two sons. She had earned her freedom, but it had apparently cost her the magician's love and attention.

The magician's sons were uneasy about their two oldest sisters, but their third sister was even more of a mystery to them. They knew one thing for certain, though. She was the only one of the three girls who did not sneak out at night.

Over the few years that had followed, the boys had made careful note of every nighttime excursion their two eldest sisters had made. At first, they had left once every few months and both girls had gone together. But then, almost two years after the first time, the eldest sister had gone on her own one night, with the other girl going a few weeks later. After that, it was rare for both of them to go on the same night. It was as if they had kept to the same pattern at first, but now the eldest sister's pattern had changed.

Very uneasy, the magician's eldest son had tried to follow them several times. But each time, they had slipped into the shadows and he had lost them.

That they had that power had been a worry to him. He had known it was part of the Shadow Magic and they used it so easily that he was almost fooled into thinking that they had gained control over it. But he had noticed that every time they did it, he felt slightly ill. He had soon realised that the feeling came from him sensing the magic as they twisted it to obey their commands, binding it to them to work their will. If they had the control over their items that they seemed to have, the magic should not have needed to be bound. It should have worked with them, entwining with their hearts and souls and working their wills not because they ordered it, but because it wished to do so.

Although he had been unable to follow them, he had watched them as best he could. It had been a simple task, for once they had regained the use of their items, and had been freed from their father's watchful eye, his two oldest sisters had rarely been inside during the day. They had spent most of their time gossiping and showing off to the circle of admirers they had gained.

At least that was one thing the magician's son had not needed to worry over. The girls had learned from their past experiences. They had been careful not to reveal their magic. They showed off in the same way as other females their age, by primping and posing and flirting as much as possible with all the handsome young men they could. There was no sign that they were anything other than two ordinary women trying to gain some male attention.

- - -

As the years passed, it became clear that although the magician's middle daughter was keeping to the 'once every few months' pattern, the night wanderings of her elder sister were becoming more frequent. By the end of the fourth year since regaining the use of her item, the magician's oldest child was sneaking out of the house at least twice a week, sometimes more.

The magician's eldest son also noticed that his sister's personality was changing. She had always been proud and self-assured, vain of her beauty and certain that she deserved only the best of everything. But as time passed, she began to display an arrogance that she had been lacking before. She began to act as if everyone else was beneath her, not even worthy of cleaning her shoes. She seemed to expect everyone to treat her with respect, even though she refused to treat anyone else in that way. Most of the time, she pretended as if no one else existed and when she did acknowledge someone else's existence, it was as if she thought they should be grateful that she did so. She also seemed to believe that she was bestowing a great favour on everyone around her, just because they were in her presence.

But she wasn't the only one of the magician's three daughters whose personality changed in that time.

The middle sister had always been beautiful and had known it. She had many admirers and reveled in their attention. As the years passed though, her casual flirting seemed to become edged with desperation and there were many times when one of the magician's sons caught her looking at her older sister with a curious mix of awe and fear. A bold and lively girl, she became a shallow and flirtatious woman, but she was also very much her older sister's shadow. She idolised her and there were times when she acted more like her servant than her sister. It was as if her own personality was being taken over by her sister's.

The most obvious change was in the youngest girl's personality, though. She had been a bright and bubbly girl, always knowing the latest gossip and with a fondness for baubles and trinkets. But as the years passed, she became quiet and withdrawn to the point of being almost as invisible around the house as the magician's youngest son. Certainly, their father ignored them both to the same degree. But the most startling change in her was in the way she related to her siblings.

Ever since they had been children, the magician's three daughters had always been together. They had always shared a room, had the same circle of friends and liked doing the same things. They had always been inseparable. During the year in which their items were unresponsive, however, their bond had fallen apart.

The older two had treated their sister with contempt at the time, believing her weak because she had known what they refused to accept. They blamed the items for failing to respond to them. Only the youngest girl had accepted that the fault lay in their shadowed hearts. Of the three girls, only the youngest had honestly tried to mend her lazy and selfish ways. Her sisters had laughed at her and taunted her cruelly, but she had not given up. Their actions had broken the bond between them, and it had never been mended. But something good had come out of that terrible time.

While the two eldest girls were mistreating the youngest, her two brothers had done what they could to boost her spirits. Sometimes they had been unable to do more than give her gentle smiles or soft words of comfort, but their sister had responded to them. As her bond with her sisters frayed into a tattered remnant of what it had been, a new bond with her brothers had been woven.

Over the four years that had followed that time, the older sisters had taken to ignoring the younger girl, when they were not sneering at her, and the bond with her brothers had grown stronger still. The three of them took care not to let their sisters know how close they had become, though. They sensed that the sisters would not be pleased if they knew, and the youngest girl still had to spend every night in the same room with the two cruel and spiteful young women.

So the four years had passed with nothing seeming to change in any of their lives. However appearances were deceptive. Deep beneath the surface, within their hearts, those years were a time of great change for all five of the siblings.

- - -

As he waited for his two sisters to return from this latest night's excursion, the magician's eldest son thought over everything that had happened over the past five years, searching his mind for the slightest hint of what his sisters were up to. It was hardly the first time he had done so and, just like all the other times, he could think of nothing that would explain his sisters' behaviour. But on that night, he also had something new to think over. A new fact, and a new worry.

He had believed his youngest sister when she had told him that she did not know where her sisters went to at night, or how they had regained the use of their items. But there was no denying what he had heard that night. The first footsteps past his room had definitely belonged to his eldest sister. The second set of footsteps though...

The magician's son frowned and drew his knees up tight against his chest, hugging them as he wondered why his youngest sister had gone out that night, for the first time.

- - -

The sound of running footsteps and gasping breaths awoke the boy from his restless sleep. He sat up and turned towards the door, just as it opened. His youngest sister slipped inside and quickly closed it again. She leaned back against it for a moment, struggling to catch her breath. The moonlight coming through the room's small window gave just enough light for the boy to see his sister's face. Alarmed by how pale she was, he scrambled to his feet and hurried to her side.

"Sister! What is wrong?" Despite the urgency, he kept his voice as soft as he could, knowing that their other sister was in the neighbouring room. He reached out a hand and lightly touched her shoulder. Much to his surprise, she trembled at the touch.

The girl turned her head to look up at him, her eyes wide and terrified in her pale face. "Brother... oh my brother... I... I have done something terrible... But... I did not have a choice! She... She was going to..." Her trembling was growing worse and she could barely speak. Her voice was thin and her brother could hear the fear and horror in it.

"Sister... what has happened?"

She seemed to gather herself for a moment and he admired the strength of her will as she forced herself to stop trembling.

"I know how our sisters are making their items respond to them."

The boy's eyes widened. He sensed their younger brother joining them as he softly asked, "How?"

His sister began to tremble again, more violently than before. "They are... They are stealing the souls of children and using their innocence to disguise the evil in their hearts!"

To be continued...


	6. The Ultimate Betrayal

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before anyone asks, yes this is a Yu-Gi-Oh! story. It is set in Ancient Egypt, but familiar characters will appear later in the story.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 6: The Ultimate Betrayal**  
By Shadow's Mirror

"They are... They are stealing the souls of children and using their innocence to disguise the evil in their hearts!"

For some moments, the two boys merely stood and stared at their older sister, her words echoing in their ears but their minds refusing to acknowledge that she had truly said something so horrifying. Her wide, terrified eyes stared back at them, but it was the shuddering of her body that broke the eldest son free of his shock. He moved quickly, gathering his sister into his arms and holding her close. At his touch, she buried her face into his shoulder and began to sob, but he was only vaguely aware of the wetness on his bare skin. With his mind working again, it was now racing to make some sense of what he had just heard.

A light touch to his arm drew him back to his physical surroundings and he looked down into his brother's worried silver eyes. "Brother... is it possible? Could they really use innocent souls to mask their own and allow their items to respond to them?"

Not for the first time, the magician's son was awed by his younger brother's immediate grasp of the finer details of a complex situation. He nodded slightly. "I would never have thought them capable of such evil, but if our oldest sisters have indeed found a way to draw on the souls of innocents... then yes, it is possible. Their items were designed to be used only by those with pure hearts and souls. If they were somehow using pure souls as a barrier around their own hearts... then that purity could indeed be enough to assure their items' use." As his sister's sobs increased, he held her close and looked at his brother in growing fear and horror. "It would also explain why they are able to use their items now, when their hearts have grown only darker over the past five years."

The younger boy nodded in agreement, then frowned. "But if they were stealing souls of children... why have we not heard of children being lost?"

His brother had no answer for him, but his sister did.

"Because..." Still trembling, the girl managed to get her tears under control. She remained clinging to her brother and her voice was so shaky both boys had to lean close to hear her, but she managed to gather enough strength to speak. "They do not steal the souls from the children completely. They just draw a little power from them. Not enough to kill, but enough to leave the children weak and vulnerable to them in the future. They each have a few children they... favour... and they go to them in turn. The souls restore themselves over time, so there is always power available." She shuddered and shook her head. "They do not kill... but I... but I..." She began to cry into her brother's shoulder again.

The two boys looked at each other, their eyes reflecting their growing concern about what had occurred that night to make their sister so distressed.

A sound caught the younger brother's attention and he pressed his ear to the door, listening intently. Seeing this, the older boy quickly held his sister closer, his shoulder muffling her sobs as much as possible. After a few minutes, the younger brother frowned. "Our older sister just went out."

The magician's eldest son frowned as well. "It is not her night." The two boys looked at each other, their concern growing at this newest strange event of that night.

- - -

Four years earlier, their eldest sister had begun going out secretly at night. The day after her first night out, she had regained the use of the item that had been locked to her for over a year, due to the darkness of her heart. For two years, she had continued her night wandering in a regular pattern, once every few months. But then, for some reason, she had begun to go out more frequently. Little by little, she had progressed to the point where she was going out twice each week.

By comparison, their next elder sister's habits were far more predictable. Ever since her first night out, and her regaining the use of her item the next day, she had continued to go out at night once every three months. She was so regular with it that the boys did not need to hear her steps pass their door to know that it was her night to go out.

So for her to go out that night, when barely a month had passed since her last night out...

The eldest of the magician's two sons frowned. "She heard."

His younger brother nodded in agreement, a frown also creasing his brow. "She has gone to warn our eldest sister that we know what she is doing." His frown deepened. "But... why?" He looked up at his brother. "Does she fear that we will tell Father?" He sighed softly. "He would never listen."

"I know." The elder boy moved a hand to stroke his brother's hair. "Perhaps she is not as sure of that as we are." His frown also deepened as another thought occurred to him. "Or perhaps it is not Father she fears."

The younger boy shivered slightly. "Our eldest sister has always been quick to take advantage of any situation."

His brother nodded. "Indeed. To use her younger sister as a spy in her own house... that is something she would think of doing. But also... it may be that our learning of this business means something to her." He glanced at his older sister and hugged her gently. "If nothing else, our hidden alliance has been revealed." His voice revealed his worry over that. He knew that things would be intolerable for his sister if the other two knew of the bond between her and the brothers.

The girl eased back and managed a small smile for her brothers' sakes. "I do not believe our sisters will bother me. Not now that they have seen... what I am capable of." Tears threatened again but she quickly wiped her eyes and took a calming breath. She looked sadly at her brothers. "I must tell you... I know that. Yet... I fear that you will turn from me, when you hear what I have done."

As both boys immediately began to shake their heads, denials springing to their lips, their sister held up her hand. "Do not promise anything that you will later regret." She sighed and her hand dropped to her side again.

Truly alarmed by his sister's behaviour, the older of the magician's two sons lightly touched his sister's overly-pale cheek. "What has happened?"

Her voice soft, their sister told both boys her story.

- - -

For four years, her sisters had been strangers to her.

They had been close all their lives, being born with barely a year between each of them, but the day their Father had gifted them with powerful items had marked a change in that closeness. The eldest sister, always having had a liking for power, had immediately taken the lead. The middle sister, always liking to be where the attention was so that some of it might fall on her, had immediately followed her. Only the youngest had wavered in her usual habits.

She alone of the three had realised the immense importance of the items. Her sisters had considered them to be pretty baubles that held the key to realising their dreams, but she had known that the items really held the hope for the peace of their city and perhaps even the world. Overwhelmed at the enormous burden that had been placed on her shoulders, she had instinctively pushed that knowledge to the back of her mind and retreated into the familiar and comforting ways of her childhood. She had followed her sisters... but the little voice inside her had not stayed silent.

She had known what they were doing... how they were showing off their power to their circle of friends to gain their respect and admiration... was wrong. She had chosen to ignore that knowledge.

When the items had begun to fail, the youngest of the sisters alone had known that the fault lay not with their father or the items, as the older two grumbled, but in their own hearts. Of the three, she alone had understood how serious the situation was and how deeply they had failed their father's hopes and expectations in them.

In the tough year that had followed, as their father had tried everything he could think of to purify his three daughters' hearts, she alone had tried to mend her lazy and self-centred ways. Of the three sisters, her life had changed the most. She had gone from being a content and pampered girl whose only concern was which pretty trinket she should ask her father to buy her next, to a girl weighed down with worry about what was happening in the city and thoughts of how, if she had just been a little stronger, she might have helped to stop the evil Pharaoh.

Her sisters had known that and they had scorned her for it.

Since then, they had not said a word to her in kindness. Even when gossipping in their room at night, they excluded her. From her position as the magician's third daughter, she had fallen into the role of target for the magician's two elder daughters. But even then, she had not given in to despair. Her brothers had been there when she had needed them the most. Because of their encouragement, she had managed to bear her sisters' complaints and criticisms. With time had come the growing realisation that no matter what her sisters said or did, if she continued to follow them instead of her own heart, she was in danger of losing what little self-respect she still had. But before she could break free of them, the unthinkable had happened.

Her eldest sister had, overnight, regained the use of her item.

The magician had been ecstatic. Their sister had been startled and envious. But the youngest had felt a strange revulsion deep inside herself when her oldest sister had shown their father that her item was working again. Somewhere within, she had known that something was terribly wrong.

Oddly, the months following that had not been so bad for her, despite the magician doubling his efforts to 'redeem' his two precious ones' hearts. She had been distracted from her worries by a growing fear of her eldest sister and the power she had... but did not wield.

Her eldest sister... who valued power and scorned those without it... was not using the power that she had so often said she wanted back. She was being cautious, she had said in response to their other sister's questioning. It would not do for them to catch the Pharaoh's attention too soon.

Something about the look in her sister's eyes on the night she had said that had worried the youngest girl. The deep blue eyes had been cold, calculating, and yet they had also held a gleam of... triumph? It was a look that spoke of plans laid and waiting for fulfilment.

Since the three girls shared a room, the younger two had noticed the eldest sneaking out the night before her item began to respond to her wishes once more. The middle sister had kept watch and, when the eldest had done the same three months later, she had followed her. The next day, she too regained the use of her item. But there had been something else. Something that the magician and his sons had not known of.

Since that day, the middle daughter had feared the eldest and had become her slave.

They had never told the youngest their secret and she had never asked. Even when their father had ranted at her and praised his other daughters' for regaining the use of their items, she had refused to rise to their baiting about it. Every time they used their power, which they both did very rarely, she felt ill and she was sure it was not from fear or worry or anything physical. Whatever they had done to make their items respond to them again... the magician's youngest daughter was certain that she wanted to have no part of it.

Then her father had gone one step too far.

He had told her that her sisters had obviously become paragons of virtue, since their items responded so readily to them. He had added that if she did not follow in her sisters' footsteps, then he would take her item from her and give it to her eldest sister. He had finished by saying that he was confident that her sister had the strength of will to be able to control both.

The magician's late wife had been known for her sudden fits of temper which had been said to be fiercer than a sandstorm and resulting in far more damage. The eldest two daughters had inherited that trait, although fortunately to a far lesser extent. Their temper tantrums were more of the 'glaring while stamping a foot in a pretty way to make their father buy them something' variety. The two sons were both the epitome of mildness and the youngest daughter had seemed that way, too.

Perhaps that was why her sudden rage had caught her father so much by surprise.

Although, it may not have been the books she hurled at him that had startled him as much as the clouds of ominous shadow that had surrounded her as she threw them.

Of course, his treatment of her since then was in reaction to what she had said after that.

With the clouds of shadow swirling around her, the magician's youngest 'jewel' had snarled that the magician would find himself very sorry if he tried to put her item into the hands of her sister. Especially since she was even more evil than the one who had usurped the rightful Pharaoh's throne with the aid of a certain item that a foolishly proud magician had made.

The magician had been furious, but she had seen the fear in his eyes as well.

Although her father was a skilled magician, his talent lay in creating items that could channel or focus the powerful Shadow Magic, rather than in using that magic himself. His magical power was actually very weak. Faced with proof that his youngest daughter was stronger than he was in that way... It had been a realisation that he had not taken at all well.

In a way though, his manner of dealing with it had been most welcome. He had begun to ignore her as thoroughly as he ignored his sons.

After the long year of being ranted at, lectured and constantly watched and criticised, the magician's youngest daughter had felt nothing but relief at his reaction.

For almost four years she had been almost as ignored and disregarded as her brothers, by both her father and her sisters. During that time though, she had not been idle.

She had been watching.

She had watched her father seclude himself in his workroom day after day and her concerns had grown, as his behaviour had become more and more erratic. He claimed to be working on the simple magical items that were his means of making a living, but she was convinced he had some other plan in progress.

She had watched her older sister trail after her eldest sister, her sister's apparent willingness to do everything she was told to do revealed as a lie by the fear in her eyes whenever she looked at the eldest. There was something there. Something wrong. The sisters were bound by some knowledge that caused the younger of them fear while the eldest grew steadily more arrogant and self-assured.

She had watched her eldest sister become even more self-centred, but it was her actions under cover of the night that had her more worried than anything else. Like her brothers, she too had realised that her eldest sister was going out far more frequently than before. Although she had no wish to learn what her sisters did when they went out at night, she had finally reached the point where she had known that she had no choice but to follow and find out.

- - -

It had started the previous night.

As she always did those days, the youngest sister had faked sleep while her sisters were still awake. Believing their conversation would remain unheard, they had spoken in whispers.

The eldest had overheard their father ranting in his workroom earlier in the day. Apparently, whatever he was working on was not powerful enough for his liking and he had been bemoaning that fact, along with giving voice to his dissatisfaction that the only way to increase the power was with a spell so strong he could not cast it alone.

His eldest daughter was convinced that the magician was working on a new item. One powerful enough to defeat the original item he had made. The item that was currently wielded by the one who had once been the Pharaoh's most trusted adviser... and was now the Pharaoh himself.

That alone had not been unusual. It was not the first time the eldest girl had mentioned such a possibility, although it was the first time she had overheard something that supported the idea. No, what had truly alarmed the youngest girl had come after that.

"So... are you going to tell... him... about it?" The voice had been meek and filled with fear.

"Yes. I believe the time has come. Tomorrow night, I shall set things in motion."

"Is it not... dangerous?"

The smug voice had been smooth with confidence and a hint of sneering. "Not for me. That pitiful fool adores me. I have him right where I want him. Soon... very soon... I shall have everything I desire."

Considering that her eldest sister's desires all centred around her being in a position of great wealth and power... that claim was enough to make her youngest sister realise that it was time for her to find out exactly what was going on.

When her eldest sister had left the house the following night, she had waited a little while, then had followed her. Their other sister had seemed to be asleep at the time, although she had suspected that she was merely pretending. She had known that either way, she would not be stopped. Her sisters had never stopped trying to get her to ask about their regained powers. Something in them seemed to want to tell her. Or perhaps the eldest's plans required her youngest sister to have the use of her item, to give her some sort of assistance.

If that were the case, the eldest sister would be in for a shock. The youngest girl was determined that she would never help either of her sisters to do anything ever again.

The eldest sister had walked a few blocks and then turned into an alley. When the youngest sister had peeked around the corner a few moments earlier, she had been horrified at what she had seen.

Her sister, a look of pure malice on her beautiful face, had been standing there, waiting for her. But she had not been alone. Standing by her side, swaying slightly on her feet and with her eyes oddly blank, had been a very small child. The little girl was perhaps eight years old, although she was so thin and small that she could easily have passed for a six year old. Her shoulder was being pushed down by the weight of the hand which held her so tightly that it would have caused the child pain... if she had been able to feel any.

The eldest had motioned for her younger sister to join her and, when she had done so, had proceeded to offer her 'assistance' in restoring the power to the youngest girl's item. The price? Her unwavering loyalty to her sister and her promise that she would use her power in whatever way her eldest sister asked of her. Before the youngest could speak the heated denial that rose in her throat, however, the eldest had smiled coldly and told her that if she agreed, the child would be spared but if she did not... The look of triumph in her eyes had made her youngest sister's blood run cold.

Taking the girl's silence for agreement, the eldest had proceeded to explain the 'procedure', as she called it.

The process was disturbingly simple. Touch the item to the child's chest and it would be filled with the child's pure spirit. Take just enough to make the item biddable to the wielder's will and the child would live. She would also be completely at the wielder's mercy. Her spirit would restore itself over time. In the meanwhile, the youngest sister would need to find other children to draw from.

Supremely smug and completely sure of herself, the eldest had then pushed the child forward, into her younger sister's arms.

- - -

As she had spoken, the youngest girl's voice had grown soft. Upon mentioning the child, her voice had filled with a misery so deep both boys could feel it radiating from her. She lifted her head from where it had been bowed through most of her story and looked into her younger brother's bright blue eyes, her own filled with pain.

"She was so sure of me. I think... that is what hurts the most. Even after how they had treated me for the past four years... our sisters still believed that I would follow them blindly." She shook her head and sighed. "I could have forgiven that, since it was partly my own fault that they thought that about me... but I could never forgive what she said after that. She told me that she would give me that child, because she had no further use for her, but that I would need to find others on my own. She... She treated that child... that sweet... innocent c-child... as if... she was..."

The girl's hands clenched into fists and her eyes blazed with fury that she was clearly struggling to keep controlled. "As if she was worthless!"

Her fury suddenly left her and she looked at her brothers with wide, horrified eyes that began to fill with tears. "I did not wish to." Her voice was barely a whisper. "When I touched her, though... There was suddenly nothing in the world except for her and I. She was so small but her heart... I could sense her soul, fluttering in her body like a frightened little bird but... weak. It was so very weak." Tears began to slide down her cheeks.

"I knew our eldest sister had lied and I believe I know why our other sister fears her so. She must have done the same to her. The child's soul was not whole. It was in tatters. I could feel it. She must have been drawing off her for some time without allowing her time to recover. She gave her to me knowing that if I did as she said... it would have meant the child's death. She could have bound me to her by my guilt and fear of being discovered. It would have been so easy for her. If I had done as she asked. Even if I had not... I know the child would have not survived her wrath. She would have killed her just to prove that she could. I would have been free... but at such a cost." She was still crying, although her tears were silent and she seemed to be unaware of them.

"I could hear her soul. She was crying. Saying that it hurt and that she did not want to be hurt any more. She was begging me to stop our sister from hurting her." She closed her eyes and seemed to be fighting to keep talking. To tell them what she had done. After a moment, her eyes opened again and she looked sadly at her brothers. They looked back at her in shock, tears in their own eyes.

"I was so angry. But I did not wish to do what I did. I... In truth, I am not even sure what that was. It all happened so quickly. I felt my rage build and then I looked at our sister and she was smiling at me. She started to encourage me to join her and our other sister and I just..." She shook her head and drew a shuddering breath. "Everything went dark. There was just our sister, the child and myself. Our sister... she looked afraid then. I was glad. But I was still so angry. I felt... power... from somewhere deep within. I... There was a burst of light and... the darkness was gone. But... so was the child."

The two brothers gasped in shock. The younger moved faster and reached her moments before his brother did. They both hugged her tightly and she allowed herself to lean into their strength for a moment. "I killed her. I know it. I felt my power surge and there was no sign of her after that. I could not sense her at all."

"That does not mean..." The magician's eldest son fell silent as she smiled sadly at him. There was such pain in her eyes that he could barely stand to look into them.

"My item... is responding to me, now."

The softly spoken words fell heavily into the suddenly still air.

Although the silence that followed that stunning news seemed to last for hours, it was mere moments before that the silence of the magician's house was shattered by loud banging on the front door.

Startled out of his shock at his sister's words, the magician's eldest son frowned in the direction of the sound. He quickly turned back to his sister. "Our sister... what did she do after that?" The urgency in his voice seemed to break the girl out of her own daze.

"She... said something about how the last piece had just fallen into place. Then she told me to follow her and headed down the alley." The girl's eyes gleamed with a spark of determination. "I ran the other way."

Her brothers both smiled and hugged her again. "I suspect our dear eldest sister may have made a little miscalculation tonight." The eldest boy frowned. "But that sound worries me. I just hope... she has not done what I am thinking she may have done." The two boys shared a look as their sister blinked at them in confusion.

"Either way... we should not stay here." The younger boy hurried over to the other side of the small room and tugged on a rope hanging from the ceiling. A hatch opened and a rope ladder uncoiled. He smiled as his brother ushered their surprised sister towards it. "Big brother made sure that we had an escape route, just in case."

The older boy nodded and urged his sister to start climbing. "It leads to the roof. We will be safe there. Once I pull the ladder up after us, there will be no sign of a way up. No one will think to look for us in a place there seems to be no access to."

His sister nodded and began to climb.

At her waist, the item attached to her belt glowed very softly.

- - -

"Enough! I am coming!" Cursing loudly, the magician hurried towards the front door. "Where is everyone? Why has no one answered that wretched banging? I said enough!" His voice rang out through the still night as he reached the door. He was just reaching for the handle when the sound stopped. Blinking, the magician scowled at the door. "A child's prank. When I get my hands on whoever is behind this... Waking a man from sleep in the middle of the night!"

He had taken barely a step back towards his room when the door was suddenly struck with a massive blast of magic that ripped it off its hinges!

As the magician backed away in shock and alarm, the Pharaoh's guards charged into the room, swiftly surrounding him and cutting off all avenues of escape. A figure stepped into the open doorway, casting a shadow that fell over the magician as the captain of the guards forced him down onto his knees. He heard light footsteps slowly cross the floor towards him. Then a voice as familiar to him as his own spoke up and the magician's head snapped up, his eyes widening with shock which shifted to horrified realisation as he looked up at the figure looming over him.

"Greetings, Father."

To be continued...


	7. Magic's Price

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The background is out of the way, so from here on in there should be more action. A few familiar names and faces will be showing up soon, too.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 7: Magic's Price**  
By Shadow's Mirror

"Daughter!" The magician stared at his eldest child in shock, unable to believe his eyes. "What are you doing? Who are these people? Why are they here?" He frowned as he noticed several of the men head off into the house. "Where are they going?"

His daughter smiled and the magician wondered why he had never before realised how cold her deep blue eyes were or noticed the cruel twist of her smile.

"Why father, do you not recognise the Pharaoh's Guards? Everyone who is anyone knows them by sight, especially if they have served the Pharaoh and been to the palace. Ah... but you have never been called there, have you? I quite forgot... How foolish of me." Her voice was a low purr as she looked down at the man on his knees before her.

The magician quickly hid the look of irritation that flashed across his face. His children all knew how great a thorn it was for him that he had never been summoned before the true Pharaoh but other, considerably less talented, magicians had been called there many times, simply because the Pharaoh had liked them more. His eldest daughter was deliberately taunting him.

"Enough! I am your father and I demand to know what is going on!" He tried to stand and grimaced as one of the guards pushed him roughly back down to his knees. "Why have you brought these men into our home?"

His daughter's smile slipped, just for a moment. "Why, I have come to fetch my youngest sister, of course. It is time for me to leave this... hovel... and I wish my dear sisters to be with me and share in my good fortune. My other sister has already agreed," she spoke with a slight note of disdain in her voice, her hand flicking dismissively over her shoulder to the young woman standing half hidden in the shadows just inside the doorway. At the magician's startled glance, his middle daughter bowed her head and refused to meet his eyes. "However, my youngest sister is proving to be rather... stubborn... about it."

The magician returned his attention to his eldest child at her words and was startled to see the depth of her anger reflected in her eyes. As she smiled at him, her words a soft purr filled with malice and derision, it was all he could do to restrain himself from shuddering.

"Such an undesirable trait, stubbornness, do you not agree, Father? Ah, but of course you do. It was one of the many traits you lectured us on all those years ago."

As she spoke, the guards who had been searching the house returned. The woman's frown deepened as she saw that they were alone and the light mask of affability that she had been wearing dropped as she looked at the magician sharply. "Where is she?"

"Your sister?" The magician blinked. "I had thought her asleep in her room. But then... I had thought the same of you and your other sister, also." He frowned at them both. "Traipsing around the city at this time of night..." He trailed off at the look of hatred she gave him.

"Do not lecture me. You no longer have that right." Her voice was cool and haughty, tinged with hatred and disgust for the man who had once called her 'the first of my shining jewels'.

The look fueled his own anger. "No. I am still your father. While you live in this house..." He broke off in confusion as she laughed softly.

"Ah, but I do not. Not anymore." She smiled at him.

Before the magician could demand an explanation, the guards at the door stood to attention and someone stepped into the doorway. The moonlight cast his shadow across the floor. As his eldest daughter stepped to one side, the shadow moved forward until it fell over the magician. The man stared at the newcomer in shock and rapidly growing horror.

"Is there a problem, my dear?" There was something unpleasant in the man's tone. Oily. Idly, the magician wondered why he had not noticed it when he had been dealing with him five years earlier.

The magician's eldest daughter smiled and moved to the man's side, pressing against him as she slipped one arm up around his neck, her other hand moving to rest on his chest. "No, not at all. I was merely conversing with my father. It seems that my dear little sister has run away."

"Oh? I see. Well then, I hope you will allow me to assist in finding her." He smiled at her before turning and motioning to one of the guards. "Have the men search the city. I want the girl found by dawn."

"Yes, sir."

As the guard hurried off, the man smiled at the bewildered magician. "It really was most careless of you to lose your daughter like that. Perhaps I should reconsider the offer I was planning on making you. After all, if you do not even know where your own children are, that does not speak well of you. I do not wish to have a fool as my chief magician."

The magician swallowed hard. "Your... chief magician?" The conversation had taken an unexpected turn, but the apparent closeness of his daughter to the man before him was even more shocking.

"Why of course. I want my queen to have all she desires and what she wishes is for you to have a place in my court. She and I agree that you could be very... useful." He smiled and a chill ran down the magician's spine, but it wasn't entirely because of the possibilities behind that statement.

"Queen?" He glanced at his eldest daughter. Her expression was as smug as a feline who had just cornered a mouse and was enjoying toying with it.

"Congratulate me, Father. I am to be wed."

Before the magician could do more than gape at his daughter, the man spoke again. "There is one other reason, of course. For what you have already done for me, you should be rewarded. You deserve power and prestige. After all, if it were not for you..." He left the sentence hanging, but the magician knew that it was not out of a desire to not speak of the matter. It was a threat.

The magician knew that if anyone ever learned of the part he had played in putting this man in the highest position of power in Egypt, his life would become worthless and likely very short.

"Of course. I am... humbled by your words and... delighted to accept the honour you do me, my Pharaoh." Still on his knees, the magician bent his head until it almost touched the ground. He remained that way until a loud chinking thud came from the floor in front of him.

The small moneybag looked innocent enough, but the magician knew it sealed his fate even before the Pharaoh spoke.

"Consider that a little something extra in advance for all that I know you will soon do for me."

The magician lifted his eyes and watched as the man that he had once known as the Pharaoh's advisor left the house with his daughter, the future Queen of Egypt. His gaze was not on his daughter, however, but on the man who had deceived him five years earlier.

His hands closed into fists as rage flooded through him. He was careful to wait until the guards were gone, though, before he picked up the pouch of coins and threw it across the room. "How dare they. How dare they mock me like this. They will pay. I swear... they will pay." His eyes blazed with his fury as he stood, his voice a low growl in the silence of the room.

He stood fuming for a short time before a soft noise alerted him to the fact that he was no longer alone. Whirling around, he glared at his youngest daughter, standing with his sons. "So, you were here after all. Your sisters came looking for you. What have you done now, you stupid girl?"

The girl trembled and bit her lip hard, tears coming to her eyes. Her younger brother put his hand on her arm and looked calmly at their father. "She learned her sisters' secret. How they have been able to keep control of their items while their hearts are more corrupted now than ever."

"What's this? What 'secret'?" The magician turned the force of his anger onto his son, but it had no effect at all on the young man, who kept calmly returning the gaze.

"Your eldest two daughters have been masking the evil in their hearts from their items' notice by stealing parts of the souls of innocent children and using them as a sort of barrier." He ignored the shock in his father's eyes and continued. "The items sense the children's' innocence and so respond to their bearers' wishes, however it only lasts a short time. Up to a month, if they do not use their items. Less if they do. Then they have to take more of a child's soul to replenish the barrier."

The magician shook his head. "Nonsense! What you are saying is impossible! I made those items! Do you truly believe you can fool me with your false accusations?" His voice wavered as he spoke and it was clear that he was trying to convince himself of what he was saying.

His eldest son looked at him steadily. "Father... the time for lies is long past. As is the time for argument. If we are to have any chance at stopping this, then we need to act now and we need to act as one. If we all work together, perhaps there is a way for us to reverse what has been done and set things back to the way they should be."

The magician glared at his son. "Do you think I have no mind of my own? As if I need the help of three children for this!" He tensed, his eyes widening for a moment before he abruptly turned away. "We will speak of this later. Go to bed now." He strode from the room.

The youngest child sighed softly. "He has thought of something."

His brother nodded and sighed as well. "All we can do is wait and see what he does."

Their sister also sighed. "He does have one point, though. There is nothing more we can do tonight. We should go and sleep." She looked at her siblings and smiled a little. "Perhaps we will find the answer we seek in our dreams."

Her brothers both managed small smiles too as they nodded in agreement before they all went off to sleep in the boys' room, an unspoken agreement between them that they would rather be crowded with all three of them in the small room than be separated as they usually were.

- - -

Although he was tired, the youngest of the magician's sons could not stop thinking about what had happened that night. He lay silently in the darkness, listening as his brother and sister's breathing gradually became deep and even. Even after both of them were sleeping, his mind would not settle enough for him to join them. Finally, he did what he did every night he could not sleep. He got up and slipped out of the room to go and get a drink of water. Usually, the simple act was enough to calm his troubled mind enough for him to drift off at last.

As always, he didn't bother with a candle. His night vision was very good, a trait he shared with his brother, and he had no real need of one just to get himself a drink. Normally, the stillness of the house had a calming effect on him, but that night was different. There was something in the air... a sort of tenseness or expectation that was not usually present. Putting it down to his imagination after what had happened that night, the boy ignored the feeling.

But he couldn't ignore the sliver of light showing under the door of his father's workroom.

As they had been preparing for bed, the three siblings had clearly heard their father go into his own bedroom and close the door. They had believed him exhausted by the events of that night and the burden of what he had learned, but the sliver of light suggested otherwise. Had he only gone into his room for a short time and then returned to his workroom? Or was there an intruder in the house? Could his eldest sister possibly have returned?

The boy silently made his way to the door and opened it up just a crack. He frowned when the gap revealed the cause of the light.

The magician was at his workbench, working with near feverish intensity. Apparently, his concentration was acute enough for him to be immediately aware that he was being watched because he suddenly swung around and glared at the doorway. When he saw his younger son there, though, he did something very odd.

He smiled at the boy. "Ah. It is you. I thought you were your sister. Well, do not just stand there. Come here."

It was the first time he had ever invited his youngest son into his workroom, an honour he had once reserved for his elder son but had not extended to any of his children in over five years. But... the way he had said it was more of an order than an invitation. When the boy hesitated, he proved that by frowning at him.

"I said come here, boy. Your sisters and brother disobey me but I will not have you doing the same." His eyes were hard and cold as he looked at the son he had mostly ignored for the sixteen years of the boy's life. "I have a task to give you. Make yourself useful for once in your life."

The boy hesitated for only a moment more before nodding and entering the room. He crossed over to his father, curiosity and the desire to find out what the magician was planning warring with an instinctive urge to run.

Whenever his father noticed him, it usually wasn't for anything good.

"I had been going to ask you in the morning, but as you are here now... Saves me the trouble of getting you." The magician spoke more mildly, but it was clear that he disliked speaking to the boy at all.

The boy nodded. "What do you wish of me, Father?"

The magician ignored the question and did one last tweak of metal on the item he was working on. "See the table over there? There is a bowl with a special blend of water and herbs in it. You are to take this," he handed the item to his son, "and immerse it in the water. Make sure it is completely covered. Ah, wait, I almost forgot." He searched his desk for a moment before holding up a small metal ball with tiny holes poked in it. "Before you put that in, drop this into the water. It is the final ingredient but must go in immediately before the potion is to be used or else it loses its potency. Do you understand? Put the ball into the water first." He frowned at the boy as he gave him the ball.

"This seems important. Perhaps my brother should do it." The boy studied both objects.

Glaring at his youngest child, the magician shook his head. "He lost the right to do it the night he showed me such disrespect. I have not forgotten that. Now hurry up and do it while I chant the incantation."

The boy nodded and went over to the other table. The magician watched him covertly as he drew several sheets of paper over towards him. "Do it."

His son obeyed.

The moment the ball hit the water, a cloud of heavily scented vapour rose up, straight into his face. Cloyingly sweet, the smell made the boy cough. Moments later, he went still, his arms dropping to his sides as he swayed slightly on his feet.

Sneering slightly, the magician stood and slowly crossed the room to his youngest child. "I always suspected your mother had lied to me. There is no way such a stupid child could possibly be mine. Still, no matter. You will finally serve some use to me." The vapour had already dissipated in the air, but the magician was still very careful not to get too close to where it had been as he grabbed the boy's hand and roughly pulled him. Moving as if he was asleep, the boy obeyed.

In the middle of the room, most of an elaborately designed magical circle had already been chalked. The magician led the boy into the middle of the circle, then quickly finished working on it, closing up the small gap he had left so the boy's feet would not disturb the chalk marks when he entered the circle. When he stood up again, he smiled at the boy as he never had before. "I should have done this the first time instead of trusting those three foolish girls. Why rely on others when I can make something to use myself?"

The boy did not reply and his normally silver eyes were dull and oddly blank. The magician's smile faded as he looked into them. "Her eyes..." He shuddered slightly and quickly turned back to his bench to pick up the object he had put there earlier for this purpose.

He turned back to his youngest child and smiled with a calmness rendered quite eerie by the ornate, long bladed dagger that he held in his hands. "Be honoured, child, you are about to bring a new era to your country."

- - -

The magician's son woke up abruptly and sat up. He tensed, his sleep-fogged mind taking a few moments to realise what had disturbed his rest.

Power, on a level he had never felt before, was pulsing and swirling and writhing through the air. It was so strong, it was filling the whole house.

"Oh no." He moved, instinctively turning to wake up his younger brother. He frowned when his hand met the empty pallet.

His sister stirred and sat up. "What is it? Are the guards back?" She sounded afraid and he quickly shook his head.

"No. Father has done something, but I do not know what."

She frowned and nodded. "I... I can feel it. The air is... heavy." Her frown deepened. "No... it feels... wrong..."

He frowned as well as he realised what she meant. "You are right. We had best go. I have a bad feeling about this." He stood and helped her up. She looked around the room and then looked at him in confusion.

"Where is...?"

"I do not know. He was not here when I woke. Perhaps he is already looking into this."

Neither quite believed that. The two siblings traded worried looks before hurrying out of the room.

As they approached the magician's workroom, the power in the air surged, then abruptly stopped. They traded looks again. "Wait here. I will go." The boy was obviously trying to protect his sister.

She shook her head. "No. This is my fight too."

Together they approached the door that led into their father's workroom. Seeing it slightly ajar, they abandoned their caution and hurried to open it more so they could see into the room.

What they saw sent a cold wave of horror through both of their souls.

The magician stood near the middle of the room, smiling in triumph as he leaned over, his hand reaching out towards the still form of his youngest child as it lay on the floor in front of him. The blade of the dagger in his other hand gleamed wetly.

The girl's scream made the magician jump. He whirled around and scowled at them. "Begone from here! I have work to do."

The girl was frozen in shock by the door but the boy was already moving, heading for his little brother. "What have you done?" At the magician's words, he paused, his eyes widening in shock. But his gaze was directed at the large circle of shadows that was appearing behind the man.

Or rather, at the immense clawed hand that was reaching through the portal towards the fallen body of his brother.

"No! You cannot have him!" He lunged forward, desperation giving him the speed he needed to get to the younger boy before he was taken from that world.

The magician gasped when he saw what was happening. "No! Wait! You were not supposed to come now! I need to get..." He reached out, but his hand met empty air as his other son pushed past him, knocking him off balance at the crucial moment.

He caught himself just in time to see his youngest son's body being pulled through the portal of shadows, his older son hanging on tightly around the boy's waist.

Then... the portal closed and both boys were gone.

The magician slowly shook his head, his face a mask of anguish. "No... no... It was not meant to happen this way. It was not meant to... No... That was... the only chance..." He dropped to his knees and weakly pounded the floor with one fist.

"F...Father...?"

He looked up at his terrified daughter and shook his head sadly. "Those wretched Shadow Monsters have deceived me. The boy's soul in exchange for power enough to defeat the Pharaoh. That was the deal but they came before I could retrieve the item. It is gone and my hopes with it."

The girl looked at the man in front of her in horror and disgust. "Your sons are gone and all you care about is some object? You... you are evil. You are truly... truly... evil." She began to slowly back out of the room.

The magician frowned at her. "Evil? I am trying to stop the man who deceived me all those years ago and you call me evil? I am your father, girl, do not forget that!" His expression changed and he regarded her thoughtfully. "Perhaps I could do the spell again..."

With a frightened sob, the girl turned and ran, knowing both her life and soul depended on it.

To be continued...


	8. A Soul for a Soul

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 8: A Soul for a Soul**  
By Shadow's Mirror

Darkness surrounded him. But this was not the gentle darkness of the night, nor the near-complete darkness that came just before dawn. Instead, this darkness was formed by a seething mass of shadows that whirled in constant motion around the magician's eldest son as he knelt, terrified yet determined, before a group of shadowy figures.

There had been one more being there, when he had first emerged from the shadow portal. A tall figure in a black hooded robe, uncloaked by the concealing, disguising shadows as the others were. It had been his hands that had reached through the portal and taken hold of the younger boy's body as it lay on the floor of their father's workroom. His strength had pulled the boy into the portal. The elder boy had barely managed to grasp his brother around the waist before he had vanished into it, but then he too had been pulled through the gate and into the shadow-filled darkness.

One glare from the magician's eldest son and the one in the hooded robe had quickly backed away from the two boys. He had then vanished, after muttering something about having just remembered an urgent appointment that he was very late for.

Barely a minute had passed since then, but the magician's son was all too aware of how precious that time was. Every second placed his younger brother in more peril. He held the boy's body closer to his chest and glared at the figures as they muttered to each other. They spoke as if he could not hear them, but he heard every word.

"A mortal, here! This is unheard of! What are we supposed to do with him?" The speaker was obviously annoyed about it, but also sounded like someone who was naturally crotchety.

"Well, as he is here, we may as well offer him to the Shadows as well." The second voice was soft and lilting with a musical tone to it, but there was a coldness in it. A lack of all tender feeling.

"He seems to be determined to remain with the young one." The deep rumbling voice sounded thoughtful. "Perhaps he would be willing to go with him to the Shadows. I dislike sending one so young alone." Was that a hint of sadness in the voice?

"Yes, yes, we know. You have already given your opinion on the matter, but you know as well as I that the choice was never ours to make. It was a deal with the Shadows." It was the first voice again, but this time there was impatience in it as well as annoyance. "Now it is up to us to finish what was begun and we had best do it quickly. You know how they hate to be kept waiting. But the second boy is a complication that we will need to deal with, first. The deal was only for one."

A soft voice came from the figure standing a little behind the other three, the words coming slowly and hesitantly. "Could we perhaps... send him back?"

There was silence for a moment. "Send him back? Have you any idea how much paperwork that would cause?" The crotchety voice was the first to respond.

"About the same as if we were to offer him to the Shadows also." The soft voice replied without any trace of hesitation, but the words still managed to convey apologetic respect towards the one who had asked the question.

"Of course he would know that. He is the one who does the paperwork, after all." The musical voice held a hint of amusement.

There was a decidingly unamused snort in response, but it was the low voice that spoke next. "Then, that would seem to be the best solution. Send the older one back and the younger one to the Shadows and let that be an end to this." The voice sounded resigned more than satisfied.

"No! I will not let you take him anywhere! Send us both home!" The magician's eldest son had finally heard enough.

"What is that? He can hear us? Impossible!" The crotchety speaker was obviously astonished.

"Well now... this is an interesting development, indeed." The musical voice now sounded curious. "How is it that he can hear us, I wonder? These shadows are supposed to repress mortal senses, are they not?"

"They are. But they are not as effective against ones with the Shadow Magic." The soft voice was calm and matter-of-fact, but his words had the opposite effect.

"What? Are you saying this boy has...? Oh wonderful... Can this wretched business become any more complicated, do you suppose?" The crotchety voice was clearly very annoyed at the news.

The magician's son was not happy at being ignored. "I said send us both home! Now!" His angry shout caused the crotchety speaker to splutter in indignation but he didn't care.

"We cannot." The low voice sounded almost apologetic. "Not both. You may return to the mortal world, however, the one you hold no longer has a place there. A bargain was made. He died..."

"Er... Ancient one..." The soft voice was even more hesitant than it had originally been.

"Do not interrupt when someone is talking. I thought your father had taught you better manners than that." Crotchety and annoyed, the speaker was more of an interruption than the soft voice.

"As I was saying..." The low voice sounded slightly bewildered. "The boy was killed so his soul could be offered to the Shadows as a willing..."

"Er... Ancient one..." There was a softly mumbled chant from the crotchety figure and the softly voiced figure fell silent.

"He should not have interrupted, true, but did you really need to bespell him into silence?" The low voice was mild as it spoke to the crotchety figure, but almost gentle as it spoke to the magician's son again. "Now, where was I? Ah yes. The boy was offered as a willing sacrifice in return for great power which was placed in an item of..."

"Er... Ancient one..." Apparently, the spell had been lifted, but the soft voice barely got that much out before one of the figures started towards him, the crotchety voice muttering about how he would keep him quiet if he had to smother him in the process.

The low voice paused for a moment, then finished somewhat hesitantly. "The power was placed in an item of the bargainer's creation. The Shadows kept their end of the deal. The power now resides within the item and so payment must be made, accordingly. At the moment of his death, his soul was bound to the Shadows. We are merely collecting the price of the magic given." If the speaker seemed a little distracted, it was likely because two of the shadowy figures were moving around behind him as if the smaller crotchety one was chasing the softly voiced one around.

"He is not dead."

"I am glad that you understand... wait..." The low voice paused. "Did you just say...?"

Confusion and shock filled the voice with uncertainty. The magician's son took the chance it offered.

He held his brother closer against him. "I said that my brother still lives. Father... the one who made the bargain... did not kill him. He missed his heart. As for the 'great power', here!" He took the item his brother was still holding and thrust it out at the shadowy figures. "Take it! We do not want it! He made the bargain in an attempt to solve a problem that he had created, yet he was too much of a coward to pay the price himself, so he tried to killed his youngest son instead! He planned to pay for his mistake with the innocent life of one who had no idea what he was up to."

The boy kept holding out the item, his disgust of both the man who had created it and the item itself clear in both his voice and the way he held it as far from his brother and himself as he could. "Go on! Take it! Reverse the deal! Take back the power and return both of us to our world."

All of the shadowy figures had gone very still and quiet. Even the crotchety voiced one had stopped chasing the softly spoken one, who moved closer to the two mortal boys as he broke the silence that had fallen after the elder boy's outburst.

"The young one lives. He was not a willing participant, nor even a knowing one. The power that was given is not with the one who made the bargain, but here." His voice was soft and very apologetic. "Father was monitoring the situation on the mortal world. He saw it all."

"So that is why you joined us here. To tell us. Ah. Forgive me. I should have known you would not interrupt unless it was important." The crotchety voice was no longer crotchety. Now it sounded merely old and very weary. "This... changes things."

"The bargain has not been irrevocably sealed." The low rumbling voice was little more than a whisper. "However..."

"The reason for the bargain being accepted in the first place has not changed." The musical voice interrupted without any sign of regret in doing so. "The power was given. The ritual was done. It is not our fault that the fool could neither kill the boy cleanly, nor hold on to the item he created. If we finish the task now and send the item back with the other one, it will be fine."

"No! I will not do it! I will not take it back there. I will not accept it at the cost of his life!" The elder boy would have said more, but the low voice interrupted before he could.

"If you do not accept it, then many more will die. Not only in the mortal world... but here also." The low voice sounded as if he hating being the one to say it.

"You say too much." The musical voice was no longer amused.

"No, he is right. That boy holds the item. He is blood with both the one who made it and the one who was sacrificed for it. If we do as you suggest, then we would be the ones to kill his brother. He should at least know the reason for our actions." The crotchety voice actually sounded reasonable.

"Very well. Do as you will." It was said in a 'I will tell them it is all your fault if this goes badly' sort of way, but at least it was an agreement.

The low voice spoke softly. "Have you ever heard of the Shadow Games?"

"Of course. They are games of strategy and will that use magic to manipulate creatures born from large carvings. The Pharaoh and his court play it often." The boy refused to allow his confusion over the odd question to show.

"Good answer, but not quite correct. The creatures that battle in those games are not 'born from' the carvings. The carvings merely provide a link to the creatures. The creatures, or Shadow Monsters as they are correctly known, already exist. Those who play the Shadow Games have a special type of power within them. Shadow Magic. It enables them to open paths to this world and summon those pictured to their aid from their homes here, in the Shadow Realm."

After a moment's pause for the boy to take that in, the low voice continued. "We are bound to obey those who summon us. As that is normally only within the Games, that is fine. We are summoned, we battle each other and we return home again. All injuries or deaths are fleeting. We are immortal and any injuries we receive in the Games vanish when we return here. We do no harm to mortals and we live peacefully here. However... five years ago, that changed."

As the boy held his brother a little more tightly at the reminder of that time, the low voice went on. "The item your father made back then was powerful. With it, the new Pharaoh could control not only the Shadow Magic, but all of us as well. He did not need to have our images before him in order to call us into your world. He needed only our names. When he called us, it was not as it is within the Games. We were as real there as we are here. Fortunately, he knew very few of us by name, at that time, but we saw in those first weeks the chaos that he would bring to your world, if he had the chance. Then your sisters were given their items. Which was more effective at stopping him than you may have realised."

The boy frowned at that, but he had only a moment to wonder at the meaning before it was explained.

"Though your sisters lost control of them almost immediately, their items continued to stop the Pharaoh's item each time he tried to use it. That ability was not dependent on their bearers' wills. However, when your eldest sister regained the use of her item... she also learned how to stop it from interfering with the Pharaoh's." The voice sighed heavily. "She works with him now, as does your second eldest sister. It will surely not be long before the third also falls and when that happens... We will become enslaved to the Pharaoh in your own world."

At the boy's gasp, the low voice sighed again. "Yes. That is his plan. He has spent the past five years learning our names. One by one, he has come to know us and when his item is no longer blocked by your sisters, then he will summon us to the city. We will become his immortal army and he will use us to take whatever he desires, whenever he desires it. Some among us can see the future and they have seen the result of his plans. Countries will fall before him. Cities will crumble into ruin. People will die in countless numbers. All of that... and we will be powerless to prevent ourselves from being the cause of it. From being his slaves. Only those of us whose names are unknown to him are safe from his control and by now... those are very few."

"You said that would happen when my third sister gives in. She will not."

"Then he will kill her. What is one girl's death to one such as he?" The musical voice spoke up and seemed to take some measure of satisfaction in making such a direct statement.

The boy's glare in the voice's direction was sharp and furious. "That would not work. Father made those items so they could not be taken in such a way. They can only be given freely."

"Do your sisters know that?" The musical voice sounded amused.

It was with considerable satisfaction that the boy replied. "They do. Father told them." He returned his attention to the shadowy figure closest to him, the one who had been speaking to him. "But none of this explains why you would willingly take my brother's life to give... that man... an item as powerful as you have indicated it to be. I would have thought that you would be happier if he did not have it."

"Normally, that would be true." Another heavy sigh came and with it, the slight smell of something the boy recognised as sulphur. "However... it is the best chance we have of preventing what will otherwise come. We are out of time and out of options, also. He must be stopped. Not only for your world, but for ours as well. For that... the life of a single child..." He paused and sighed again.

"Is still too much to pay." The boy had lowered his head, bending down a little over his brother. Now he raised his head again, his eyes blazing with a mix of anger and determination.

"Well really. He is too stubborn. He will not listen. We should just go ahead and..." The crotchety voice trailed off as the boy's head snapped around in his direction. The shadows stirred in the air between them and then suddenly... they were gone.

The young man glared at the startled ancient gnome-like being that was now clearly visible to him. He then turned his glare to the tall, slender elf, causing that one's smug smile to change to a look of shock. Finally, he looked at the one who had been speaking to him. The smell of sulphur on that one's breath was finally understandable. He looked into the dragon's eyes and nodded once.

"I understand your situation. I am sorry for the trouble my father's actions have caused you. He is a coward who seeks to cover his own foolishness, yet is not willing to pay the price himself. Yet, it seems that he is not the only one intending to use my brother as a means to an end." He hugged his little brother closer, aware of how much time had already passed and how still the boy was. He was still alive... but there was surely little time left for him.

The crotchety gnome scowled. "Now what is that supposed to mean?" He stepped back as the young man looked at him with his piercing brown eyes.

"You would rather take my brother's life and put power into the hands of the fool who started all this than fight for your own freedom."

"We are unable to fight the Pharaoh. We cannot go to your world on our own. We must be summoned. Also, your sisters' items stop most of what he does, but not everything. He still has some power. Close to him, he is able to control us and do other small things. Above all, your eldest sister is able to use her item in full and she is at his side, now. We are powerless to act against him. We can only give what power we can to your father in the hope that he will be able to help." The dragon sighed again and lowered his head. He looked very old and very tired.

The young man frowned and held out the item he was still holding. "If you expect him to use this to stop the Pharaoh, then you might as well take it back and send my brother and I home. He will not."

The dragon blinked. "That is why he wished for the power. Why would he go through all of this and then not use what he has been given?"

"Because he is proud to the point of arrogance and has never been able to admit to himself that he is as capable of making a mistake as anyone else. He is also a fool who does not understand the magic that he works with. He believes that anyone can use the Shadow Magic if they hold an item that binds the magic into itself. He does not know that his items work only because those he has given them to already possess Shadow Magic to some extent." Bright brown eyes locked with the dragon's. "He has skill in fashioning objects and charms, he can mix potions and remedies and he can cast spells with words and symbols. He has knowledge, skill and experience, but only a little Shadow Magic of his own. It would not be enough for him to control something like this. But he would never allow himself to believe that. He would try to use it and he would likely end up making the situation even worse."

There was silence as the four beings there looked at the young man in shock. Finally, the dragon spoke. "But... how could he have created those items without Shadow Magic?"

"The base design for the items was already created. All he had to do was refine it. He has enough skill for that. He worked with one very strong in the Shadow Magic for many years." The young man hugged his brother closer. "Our mother."

The three beings looked at each other and for the first time since arriving there, the young man felt that he had truly shaken them to the point of hesitation over what they were doing.

"Keep this item and send us back, if you do not wish to make things even worse. My brother and I will take our elder sister away from the city. If the Pharaoh and our other sisters cannot find her, then they cannot prevent her from stopping his item. I would not put it past Father to challenge the Pharaoh to a Game or something and lose his item to him."

The dragon sighed heavily and shook his head slightly. "If what you say is true... then there is only one thing we can do. You must take the item back to your world and use it yourself. You have the power. You can see us, so that is the proof of it. We can only hope you are strong enough. However... your brother must remain here. The bargain was made and even if he was unwilling and unknowing... what was done cannot be undone. I am sorry." He sounded as if he truly was. "The Shadows demand a soul in payment for the power they have given."

"Then take mine instead and return him to the city."

The three beings stared at the young man in shock, then shook their heads. At least, two of them did. The elf looked as if he was giving the idea serious consideration. "Your soul would be more of a prize for them." He blinked at the looks the other two gave him. "What? It would be."

"We are not taking his soul in place of the boy's." The gnome spoke sternly to the elf, then looked just as sternly at the young man. "That item is not a child's toy. It holds great power. You are older and would be better suited for it."

"My brother is sixteen years old and his power rivals mine in strength." It was the truth but it was also rather satisfying to see their stunned reaction to his words.

"Still... the deal was for his soul, not for yours. I doubt if the Shadows would accept a substitution." The gnome was clearly wavering, unsure what to do.

"Ask them." His voice was quiet but filled with steel.

As the gnome spluttered at the command, the dragon looked thoughtfully at the young man. "If we were to send both of you back to your world... would you agree to help us in this matter and also to come here and serve the Shadows with your brother when your mortal lives were done?"

The elf gasped. "What are you saying? That is madness!"

The dragon ignored him but the gnome shrugged slightly. "What is a little insanity between old friends? He might just be onto something." He peered at the two boys. "Hmm... it just might work. They are the same blood and if their power is of similar strength..."

The young man looked steadily at the dragon. "We are already against the Pharaoh. Anything we can do to stop him and his plans, we will do gladly. As to serving these 'Shadows'... yes. However, my brother must be allowed to live at least a normal life span, not taken as soon as we return."

"My, you are a wary one. Do not worry. We intend no tricks. You are both too important to us." The dragon again ignored the elf as he protested that no mortal child would ever be so important as to merit this sort of treatment. "Only the item you hold has the power to stop the Pharaoh now. Even so, it cannot possibly do so alone. With your brother and sister, you may have a chance. It is the best chance that we have, also. That is worth a risk, to us."

The young man nodded. "What are you suggesting?"

"The Shadows need a soul for payment of the power in that item. However, it need not be one complete soul. Two half souls would satisfy them. The term 'half soul' means a promise. If you agree, your word would be binding. You and your brother would both keep your souls, intact, for the duration of your lives, however you would both gain certain abilities. At your deaths, your souls would go to the Shadows. One half of each of your souls would be in payment for the item's power, the other half would be in payment for the abilities that you would be granted. A balance must always be kept when dealing with such things."

Before the young man could respond, the gnome spoke up. "You know... it would be easier to just take half of each of their souls now. Mortals can live with a half soul, after all. Your way sounds like a lot more work." He was obviously feeling crotchety again.

"More work... but it would also mean they have more of a chance to do what needs to be done. For all of our sakes." The dragon didn't spare a glance at the gnome, but just keep watching the young man, waiting for a reply.

The young man nodded once and hugged his brother close. "I agree. I do not know if extra power or abilities or whatever you have in mind will help but we need to have enough strength to do what we can and having half our souls would likely weaken us, instead. This seems like the best way."

"Indeed." The dragon nodded and then looked over at the fourth figure, the one with the soft voice.

He was young with blue skin, long black hair and wearing a skin-tight black outfit with a lot of buckles, straps and red bands around his arms and legs, along with a matching hat.

"Will you see to the arrangements?"

The figure nodded. "Of course. But, if I may make a suggestion...?"

"Of course. We will not silence you... this time." He glanced at the crotchety gnome as his low voice rumbled.

"Then..."

As they talked, the young man hugged his younger brother close and hoped that they would return in time. Their sister was alone in the city and he was sure that their eldest sister would not stop searching until she was found. She was in great danger.

- - -

The magician's youngest daughter had fled for her life from her father's house. She had run through the streets, heedless of the danger, intent on only one thing.

Escape!

She had seen the light of madness in her father's eyes and had realised the terrible truth. The strain of the past few years and the guilt of what he had done had barely weighed on him. The betrayal of his two eldest children and the mockery that they and the Pharaoh had subjected him to had been of far more concern to him and it was those things that had pushed him over the edge of reason. He had stabbed, perhaps even killed, her younger brother and now a portal of whirling darkness had swallowed both boys, but all he cared about was the item he had made that had been taken with them. If he ever got his hands on her, she knew he would not hesitate to kill her to repeat the creation of that item.

However, in her fear, she had forgotten one important fact. A fact that she remembered only after she hurtled around a corner and found her way blocked by a group of large men.

Her father was not the only one who wanted to get their hands on her.

Judging by the menacing way the Pharaoh's Guards smiled at her as they headed her way, her father was now the last person she needed to worry about.

To be continued...


	9. Sisterly Conversation

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Akila means 'Intelligent'. Mariasha means 'Perfect One'.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 9: Sisterly Conversation**  
By Shadow's Mirror

The guards marched their prisoner into the lushly furnished room and pushed her into a chair. They then sneered at their captive before leaving the room without so much as a glance in the direction of the room's other occupant.

The echoes of the guards' booted feet walking down the hallway sounded overly loud in the silence of the room. Counting the sets of footfalls was easy and the prisoner felt a chill down her spine as she realised that two of the guards were not leaving. She could hear them taking up position by the door outside, to make sure that she did not escape. Her position seemed hopeless, but she was determined not to give up. Somehow, she would find a way out of this mess.

"About time you got here. Our sister has been waiting for you."

The girl slowly turned her head and her elder sister cringed at the glare sent in her direction. "She is no sister of mine."

A look of fear flickered across the second girl's face. "No, do not say such a thing! She is already angry with you. If you say that, she will..."

"I do not care what she thinks of me." The words burst out, but the tone was soft. Even so, the other girl flinched back as if she'd been struck. "I do not. She will not harm me. It would not serve her purpose to do so." The younger girl leveled a look of disgust on her elder sister. "She wants me to join her so... that man..." She refused to call him the Pharaoh. "So that man can do whatever he wishes, without our items stopping him. That will not happen. While I draw breath, I will never join her. But if they kill me, then my item will be even further out of their reach."

"Stop saying such things!" Her elder sister shot a terrified look at the door and moved a little closer, dropping her voice into a loud whisper. "You... you have no idea what she is capable of. She is so powerful now."

"I have seen her... power." The younger girl shrugged. "Anyone who has to steal the souls of children just so she can use her item is not powerful at all. She is weak. But you... You are weaker still. How could you just give in to her?"

"I had no choice!" Another terrified look towards the door and another step closer before she whispered again. "I could not take another day of Father and his incessant lectures. I could not! He was making me feel as if I was worthless! As if my wants and needs were not important at all!" She frowned and looked very uncomfortable. "He spoke to us as if we were nothing to him. As if he no longer loved us. But after..." She smiled. "Oh, after... We were his darling jewels again! It was just like before!"

The younger girl looked away. "For that... For such a selfish, childish reason... You joined forces with them." She closed her eyes as the awful truth sunk in. "Father... had no idea just how true his accusations were about you and our sister."

"Well, what about you? You were just like us!" There was no attempt to keep her voice down, now. Her sister had finally found her boiling point. She was too furious to care about being overheard.

"Not quite." The younger girl looked at her elder sister again and there was no pride, no smugness, on her face. There was only a gentle sadness that made the other girl flinch.

"I was a spoiled child used to getting my own way, being given pretty things and treated like I was precious and special. But there was always a part of me that wondered why I was being treated that way, when I had done nothing to earn such treatment. Then, when our eldest brother spoke against Father's plans and I saw how Father turned against him... I was too afraid to speak up. I knew that he would treat me the same way. But... I agreed with our brothers. Never with Father. I too sensed that man was not to be trusted and I feared what would happen when Father gave him that item."

"What... what are you saying?" The elder girl stared at her younger sister in shock. "How could you say such a thing? He is the Pharaoh. He will make Father his magician and we will all live happy and comfortable lives again. Look around you! This is the kind of luxury that we will all live in. What is to fear about this?" She smiled and spread her arms out as if wanting to embrace her surroundings. "Is it not wonderful? Is it not everything you have ever desired?"

"It seems that insanity runs in our family. Father has it and so do you." There was a note of contempt in the younger girl's voice, but it was the words that her sister reacted to.

"Insanity? Father? Me? What are you talking about?" She looked confused and unsure if she should be insulted or not.

"Our sister and that man pushed Father's pride too far. They have broken him. He will never again be as he was."

"What... what are you saying? What... has happened?" The elder girl's voice shook, but... was that fear in it or... excitement? Why did a look of triumph flash through her eyes?

The younger girl instinctively bowed her head, needing a moment to try and calm her heart, which was suddenly racing almost as quickly as the thoughts whirling through her mind.

She was suddenly acutely aware of the silence from the hallway outside the room. Not the silence of two men standing guard, but the silence of one who was trying very hard to be silent. Someone was there. Someone was listening to every word she said.

The girl had no doubt at all who that someone was.

Her heart calmed and her mind cleared. Only one thought remained.

She must not tell the truth.

Even though she was certain. Even though she could feel, deep within, that her brothers still lived. Her youngest brother was hurt and would need time to recover. Her eldest brother would need time to plan. She had to have faith in him. She had to believe he would find a way to stop the Pharaoh.

It was the only hope she had.

Her voice was surprisingly steady as she lifted her head and looked into her elder sister's eyes. She called upon every acting skill she possessed. All those years of pretending to be good when in Father's sight were finally going to be useful for something.

"I was out shopping when the Pharaoh visited Father. I returned home and he told me all about it. There was a light in his eyes that I had not seen there before. A sort of feverish excitement had overcome him. He was talking about praying to the gods and making sacrifices. He tried to make me go into his workroom but... as I looked inside it... I could see..." She closed her eyes, not needing to act to put the tears in her eyes or the tremble of remembered shock and horror in her voice. She could still see the scene in her mind's eye. Every horrible detail vivid and terrifying.

"Our youngest brother. He was... He was lying on the floor. Blood. There was so much blood. Father had..." The tears were coming harder now and she had to pause a moment to keep her words from being swallowed by her sobs. "Father killed him. Our eldest brother... He tried to stop Father but... he was too late. Father killed him, too." She stopped trying to quell her tears. Part of what she had said was a lie, but part was the truth and her tears were real because of it.

"They are... dead?" Her sister's voice held shock and disbelief, but also confusion.

The younger sister dropped her head into her hands, finally freeing the grief she had felt from the moment she had seen her youngest brother lying so still on the floor of that wretched room. But even as she cried, she was still aware of the door opening and light footsteps crossing the room. The voice that spoke next was not surprising, but the smug satisfaction in it chilled her to the bone.

"Then there is nothing more standing in our way."

She looked up into her eldest no-longer-sister's cold, hard eyes and could not repress the shudder that ran through her, body and soul. "Our brothers are gone. Our father has been driven to madness. Yet... that is all you can say? How could you be so unfeeling?"

Her eldest no-longer-sister smiled, but there was no happiness there. It came solely from her enjoyment of seeing her youngest sister so upset. "Oh, but I do have feelings, sister dear." She leaned down slightly and reached out as if to stroke the girl's cheek, frowning slightly as her sister drew back with a look of disgust. She dropped her hand to her side and straightened again. "I am in love and I am to marry. The Pharaoh will make such a wonderful husband. You will be his sister-in-law. Family should help each other. That was what Father kept telling us over all those years, was it not? Well, my husband-to-be needs our help to make our kingdom strong."

Her voice was a low velvety purr of persuasiveness, but it didn't fool her youngest sister for a moment. She'd heard that tone far too often over the years. It was the same tone her sister had always used with their father whenever she wanted him to buy her something that cost more than they could afford. The number of times they had needed to go without other things because of it...

Really, someone who was as intelligent, sly and cunning as her sister should have known that tone of voice was the last thing she should try with one who had suffered because of it so many times.

It just made her even more determined not to give in.

"That man will never be my family." Her voice was soft but unwavering and her gaze never left her no-longer-sister's eyes as she continued speaking softly. "Not only because I no longer consider you to be my sister, but I do not believe he will ever wed you. Why would he wish to tie himself to a cold and selfish creature who is more than likely to stab him in the back as soon as she bears his child and can be sure of her position as mother of the next Pharaoh?"

The slap was hard enough to knock her head to one side, but the pain was dulled by the surge of satisfaction that came from knowing that she had judged the other girl correctly.

"You little fool. I offer you everything you have ever dreamed of. A life of comfort and ease with pretty things around you. Perhaps some time to think about the alternatives will make you see what you are being so quick to give up." The eldest girl strode towards the door. "Mariasha, come."

"Yes, Akila."

As Mariasha followed Akila out of the room, the youngest girl sighed softly. Not only were her two no-longer-sisters doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous, but it also seemed that they had already forgotten the very first thing their father had taught them all about magic.

_'Names have power. Use your names freely and your enemies will be able to control you easily.'_

- - -

Barely an hour passed before the door to the room opened again, but rather than either of her no-longer-sisters, the one who entered was just a child. An overly thin, overly pale, little girl of perhaps six years of age, clothed in the tunic worn by the lowest ranked of the palace servants.

The little girl looked nervously around and then bit her lip as she hesitantly took a step into the room, bearing a tray with some dishes on it. The smells that came from them made the older girl's mouth water.

She should have known that her eldest no-longer-sister would think that a good meal would make her reconsider. She was ashamed to admit that there had been a time when it likely would have done just that. But now, she ignored the sudden feeling of hunger that the smells caused and focused instead on smiling gently at the child. "Hello."

At the word, the little girl nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked quickly down at the floor and then headed over to the low table in front of the chair where the smiling girl was sitting.

"I have brought your meal." Her voice was so soft the other girl had to lean in a little to hear it.

"Oh, thank you."

The little girl looked up in surprise, then quickly looked down again. She seemed even more nervous and fumbled slightly as she put the tray down. The glass of what looked like wine tipped over and the deep red liquid spilled over the tray. She gasped in horror and stared at it for a moment, apparently too shocked to move. "F...f...forgive me! I... I did not mean to..."

"Oops. We should get this cleaned up." She looked around. "Hmm... we need... ah! Perfect!" Standing up caused the little girl to flinch, but the older girl just smiled gently at her. "It was not your fault. I startled you. I am sorry. Will you help me to clean it up, please?"

The little girl's eyes went wide and she stared at the smiling girl in obvious shock for a moment before biting her lip hard. She nodded and the older girl held out her hand. "Come. I think there is some water and a drying cloth over there."

Hesitantly, the little girl put her hand in the older girl's and went with her.

As they worked together to clean up the spill, the little girl kept darting shy and curious glances at the older girl. She finally worked up enough courage to speak. "You... are not mad with me?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the other girl still heard it.

"No. Of course not. It was not your fault at all." She finished cleaning up and studied their work. "There, that should do it. No sign of it happening at all." She smiled at the little girl. "This will just be our little secret, all right?"

The little girl hesitated, then nodded slightly. "Th...Thank you. I... would be in trouble if..." She bit her lip and bowed her head.

"I guessed as much." The girl knew all too well what her no-longer-sister and the Pharaoh were like and had known that after five years in power, his staff would likely be ruled with fear and punishment for the smallest mistake. She also knew that it was very likely that this little child had not been treated to a kind word or action in a very long time. That didn't just make her sad, it made her angry. She wasn't in any sort of position to be trying to help another but... perhaps there was one thing that she could do for this small child. Even as powerless as she currently was.

She wrinkled her nose. "I suppose I will get in trouble too, if I do not eat all of this food that was sent in to me. But they have sent far too much of it for me to finish it all alone. I wonder if..." She looked hopefully at the little girl. "Would you be willing to help me to eat it? Please? Not in return for my help or anything. If you do not wish to help then..."

"I will." The little girl bit her lip and looked very shy. "If you are... sure you wish me to?"

The older girl smiled and nodded. "I am very sure."

The little girl smiled very shyly back.

- - -

From the shadowy mouth of a nearby alley, a small figure watched the magician's house and the group of guards milling around outside it. Their presence alone was enough to instil a deep feeling of foreboding in anyone who saw them, but the figure had also been able to pick up a few fragments of their conversation, courtesy of the slight breeze that kept rustling the figure's cloak. Every fragment had deepened the impression that something was terribly wrong.

The men spoke of blood and a dagger and there were frequent mentions of 'the old fool'. The house also seemed to be empty and the guards were clearly not happy about it.

There was a soft sound in the alley behind the figure. Even as it turned, a large hand clamped down on the figure's small shoulder, resulting in a soft squeak of dismay.

For some reason, the sound seemed to please the big guardsman who had caught the watcher. "Well now... what do we have here? Maybe you're the one they're looking for, eh?" Grinning broadly, he dragged the figure out of the alley towards the other guards. "Hey! Look what I just found."

- - -

The guardsman's pleasure lasted only as long as it took to take his captive to the palace, where he learned that the girl they'd been told to search for had already been brought in by another group.

Still, when he told the captain of the guard where he'd found the cloaked figure, the captain showed some interest. "Might be useful. You there, boy, what's your connection to that house and the ones who live there? Tell me quick now, or it will go badly for you."

"Firstly, I am not a boy." The cloaked figure jerked her arm free from the guardsman's relaxed grip and tugged her hood back off her head, revealing black hair tied up in two braids and a very irritated scowl on her face.

"Secondly, I have nothing to do with that place. I was just wondering why all the guards were there, that was all. Can I go home now?" She put a little wheedling whine in her voice, but her eyes were intent on the captain's face.

The captain hesitated. "I... suppose so. There's no reason to keep you..." He blinked and shook his head. "I mean..." He frowned. "What was I saying?"

"You were saying there was no reason to keep me here as I have nothing to do with whatever is going on."

"Oh. Well..." The captain looked uneasy, as if something was bothering him, but he couldn't quite work out what it was. "I guess that's... true."

"Captain, I thought... Don't we have orders to take anyone acting suspiciously in that area directly to the Pharaoh's... lady."

For some reason, the way he said 'lady' brought the word 'concubine' to mind, instead.

The captain blinked and shook his head slightly, then frowned more. "Don't question me, boy. Of course we have orders to do that. That's what I meant. She shouldn't be here. She should have been taken straight to... her." The slightest shudder passed through him at the thought.

"Yes sir!" The guardsman grabbed the girl and had her out of the room before she could protest.

"Let go of me! I can walk by myself!" No matter how much she complained, though, the guardsman just jeered at her and kept his grip tight on her arm.

"No chance, girl. You've made a fool of me once, you won't do it again." Apparently he blamed her for his mistaking her identity.

Before she could let loose with all the reasons why it was his fault and not hers that he'd been made a fool of, she became aware that they weren't alone. Looking down, she saw a small white cat keeping pace beside them. While cats were revered, it was still very unusual for one to be wandering freely around the palace.

She was still distracted by the cat when the guardsman opened a door and pushed her into the room beyond. "She'll be here soon. Sit down and keep quiet, if you know what's good for you." With those words of advice, he was gone.

The girl whirled around to face the door. She had her hand on the doorhandle before she realised that she hadn't heard him leave. She cursed to herself. He was still outside, waiting for her to try to escape. Well, let him wait! She refused to give him the satisfaction of catching her again.

Turning back into the room, she almost tripped over the cat as it sauntered across her path. Blinking at it, she frowned slightly. Had the door been open long enough for it to have entered with her?

Shaking off the odd thought, she sighed heavily. "Well... this is quite a situation I am in. Ah well, I might as well make the best of it, I guess." She crossed the room and sat down in a very expensive looking, and rather uncomfortable, chair. The cat immediately ran over and jumped up on her knees, then settled across her lap.

The girl smiled a little. "Thanks for keeping me company, cat." She gave the cat a gentle scratch under its chin.

The cat began to purr.

The sound made the girl smile more. Things seemed a little brighter, somehow. Not as hopeless. Maybe she could find a way to turn this situation around to her advantage.

- - -

Far from the Pharaoh's Palace, a motherly woman with gentle but worried eyes smiled warmly at the young man who had just awoken in the narrow bed inside her little cottage. "Good, good. You are feeling better now, yes?"

"Yes. Thank you." The boy smiled so sweetly that the woman blinked. He began to sit up and she quickly shook off her surprise and helped him.

"Easy now. You were badly hurt. My medicine has healed your wound but... you were greatly weakened. You still need time to recover your strength."

The boy smiled again, but this time a little sadly. "Thank you for your concern, but... we have no time to waste. We have to go back. He has to be stopped."

"Oh, child..." The woman could not help herself. She hugged the boy tightly for a moment before letting him go. "All right. Your brother is waiting outside. He will explain the plan to you. The Elders have prepared a portal. It will take you back to your world, when you are both ready."

The boy nodded and smiled at her. "Thank you very much." He stood, leaning on her for just a moment before slowly making his way to the door.

After he left, the woman spoke very softly. "His smile... the warmth of his hug... Chaos, that is no ordinary boy."

The figure standing back in the shadows of the room moved to stand beside the woman. "I know, Dian. His soul is so pure and bright, it is almost blinding. He is destined for something special."

"Destined?" Dian Keto the Cure Master looked at the Magician of Black Chaos with a slight frown. "For that boy to have a destiny... he will need to survive what is to come."

"I know. Father has tried to scry the future but... it is clouded. He... No... No one here can see what the outcome will be. All we can do is wait... and hope."

Dian nodded. "Our futures depend on those two boys. As does the very fate of the world."

To be continued...


	10. The Hearts of Slaves and Servants

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My humblest apologies for not updating this story in so long. Real life went crazy on both myself and my beta reader. To make up for it, here's a little status update on the progress of this story: This update contains chapters 10-12 and I've already started work on chapter 13. I also have the remainder of this whole story roughly planned out, as well as one major scene and the epilogue completely written. So it's coming together. I just need time to work on it. For those who are still reading after all this time, I thank you for your patience and hope you continue to enjoy it.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 10: The Hearts of Slaves and Servants**  
By Shadow's Mirror

The eldest brother stood alone in a small clearing of the dark forest that covered a good portion of the Shadow Realm, a silver ellipse hovering in the air a few feet in front of him. He was so deep in thought that he never heard the sound of approaching footsteps behind him. The small hand on his arm and soft 'big brother?' caused him to jerk and he blinked down at the slightly shorter figure who had joined him, tensing for the moment it took him to realise who it was.

"Ah, forgive me. I was going over the plan one last time." He smiled, but the smile didn't quite meet his eyes. "You are recovered?"

The younger boy nodded. "I am fine. What are we doing? We did not get much of a chance to discuss anything earlier."

'Earlier' had been when he had first awoken to find himself in a strange place, his very worried brother sitting beside the bed and holding tightly to his hand. There had barely been time for the older boy to explain the situation before a kindly Shadow Monster healer had shooed him out of her cottage so she could tend to her patient and get a few doses of sweetly-flavoured red potion into him.

"One here has been watching our world closely. It is worse than we thought. Our eldest sister is convinced that the Pharaoh is going to make her his wife. She is working with him openly now and our middle sister is helping her. Our youngest sister has also been caught. She is being kept a prisoner in the palace. It seems our eldest sister believes that she will come around to her way of thinking and agree to help them." His mouth curved into a slight smile at that.

The younger boy smiled a little as well. "So she is safe for the moment, then. That is good."

"Yes. But it is not all good news. She told the others that you and I were dead. The soldiers went to our home but Father was not there." The two boys traded worried looks.

"Father is no longer thinking rationally, is he?" The younger boy spoke very softly and sadly.

"I fear not. Our eldest sister's betrayal was a hard blow and his mind was already near the edge of reason." He slipped his arm around his younger brother and hugged him gently. "But that could make him quite dangerous. Unpredictable."

The boy nodded. "He made the item we have for his own use. Will he know when we use it?" The boy looked worried at the thought.

The older boy shook his head. "No. He did not think to link it to himself like that. Fortunately for us. It is merely an item that can channel the Shadow Magic at the bearer's will. One powerful enough to overcome the false Pharaoh and the item he wields. Which means we shall have to be very careful after this is done. If it should fall into the wrong hands, it would be even more serious a problem than the one we have now." He sighed.

Their father had learned nothing from the creation, and subsequent misuse, of the original item he had made.

The younger boy nodded and sighed softly as well. "What is the plan?"

"Firstly, we need to rescue our youngest sister. I learned something very interesting about what happened to her tonight and she needs to be told. It will help greatly, not only in our fight overall, but her in particular." As his younger brother nodded again, the older boy smiled at him. "Secondly, we need to prevent our eldest sisters from using their items. Thirdly, we need to get as close to the Pharaoh as we can, without him suspecting that we have another item. Finally"

"Finally, you need to challenge the Pharaoh to a Shadow Game, right?" The younger boy looked worried about that.

"Not exactly. I need him to challenge me. The ones here were very specific about that. He needs to set the game for our plan to work." The older boy gently ruffled the younger one's hair as his brother looked at him in confusion.

"Why?"

"Because we know of his item but he does not know of ours. If he challenges us without knowing of it, then he has no right to claim it if he wins. On the other hand, if we challenge him and lose..." He trailed off, unwilling to say it.

"We know of his item so that entitles us to claim his item if we win, but for him to claim ours if we lose, too. Is that it?" The younger boy did not look happy.

The older brother nodded. "Yes. We have to plan for any outcome of such a game. He is enough of a problem with one item in his grasp."

Both boys shuddered at the thought of the Pharaoh gaining a second item of his own.

"So how are we going to do all of that?" The younger boy frowned slightly. "We cannot just go to the palace."

The older boy smiled a little. "No. But we can be taken there."

Startled, the younger boy looked up into his older brother's gleaming blue eyes. "Taken? You mean captured? But if we are prisoners, then our eldest sister will learn that we are not dead, as our youngest sister has claimed." He paused to consider and a smile crept over his lips. "Oh. I see. She will want to use us to threaten our sister."

The older boy nodded in response. "Our eldest sister's malicious nature will serve us well in this."

The younger boy looked thoughtful. "Big brother Do you think our eldest sister has realised that her family know her so well that her actions are predictable to us?"

"I hope not, little brother. I truly hope not."

On that rather solemn note, the two boys headed for the portal that would return them to the mortal world and the fate that lay in wait for them there.

* * *

The first part of the plan went flawlessly. The city guards had been alerted to watch for two males and Akila had not thought to rescind that order after learning of her brothers' 'deaths'. The boys merely needed to creep around in the alley beside their old home until they were spotted by a guard and captured for interrogation. Once at the palace, they were taken directly to their eldest sister.

Akila glared at them both, but there was more than a trace of triumph in her dark blue eyes and a cruel smile tilted her lips as she spoke to them. "Well now I see both of you have returned from the dead. How wonderful. It seems the Gods truly favour you. Or perhaps it is me they favour. After all, this will save me a lot of bother."

She turned to the guard who had brought them in and her cold eyes glittered. "Take the younger one to my youngest sister. Perhaps some time together will remind her of how much she has to lose by disobeying me. As for the older one" Her smile returned. "Take him to the dungeon. Lock him in the deepest, darkest cell there." Her voice purred the awful words without the slightest trace of remorse. When the guard hesitated, though, her purr became a sharp bark. "Well? What are you waiting for, you fool! Carry out my orders immediately!" She whirled around in a flurry of material and stalked off towards the heart of the palace.

The guard glared at her retreating back, then turned his glare on the two boys. He motioned for them to begin walking, but stopped them again at the end of the hall, where a very young guard had just snapped to attention. "You! Take this kid to the girl brought in earlier." He roughly pushed the younger boy in the guard's direction.

When the guard looked as if he was going to speak rather than move, the older guard glared at him. "I said move it! Don't just stand around looking like an idiot!" He pushed the older boy ahead of him and strode off down the hallway without waiting for a response from the chastened lad.

The younger guard looked confused. "But which girl? There were two brought in tonight." He muttered under his breath as he hesitated for another moment, but then shrugged. "Well, my orders say no one's to go near one of them, so I guess it has to be the other one." He poked the boy into moving and headed down a different corridor to the one the older guard had taken moments earlier.

After a few minutes of walking and more twists and turns than the younger boy could keep track of, the guard stopped to speak with another guard standing in the corridor. "I was told to bring him here. He's to wait with the girl."

The guard nodded and opened the door. The younger guard started to move but the boy was tired of being pushed around and was already heading for the door. He went into the room quietly and looked around. The door closed behind him just as he noticed the girl sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, petting a purring white cat lying on her lap.

In the back of the boy's mind, a spark of worry over how smoothly the plan was going flared into a blaze.

"You're not my sister!"

* * *

The guard led his prisoner down a set of stone steps and into the area of the palace where the prisoners were held. The long corridor was far narrower than the ones upstairs and the air was hot, heavy and foul. It tasted bitter on the young man's tongue and he had to restrain himself from coughing or gasping. He forced himself to breathe through his mouth and not his nose, trying to ignore the stench of unwashed bodies in close quarters that came from each of the cells they passed. Forced himself to ignore the urge to glance into the cells at the poor unfortunates who had earned the Pharaoh's dislike. In all likelihood, they were innocent of all but the smallest offences. The Pharaoh was quick to anger.

As they moved further down the corridor, the young man realised that when his sister had said 'deepest' and 'darkest', it had not merely been a phrase, but was the actual truth of the situation. The only light in the dungeon came down the stairs from the doorway above and it only extended so far. Past the first few cells, the shadows were deeper and each cell was darker than the one before it. Which meant the cell that was intended for him

He forced himself not to shudder in revulsion at what lay at the far end of the corridor. There, the darkness was almost absolute, so the wooden cell door looked less like a door and more like a gaping empty maw. Every step brought him closer to it and he had to fight to keep moving and not allow the fear building inside him to win.

He'd never been afraid of shadows. But also, if he gave up now, then the fight would be over before it had even begun.

He was so intent on getting to the door that he almost missed the guard's soft grumbling.

"Stupid woman. Ah well, not my fault. If he asks, I'll just tell him she ordered me to bring him here. She'll be the one in trouble for it, not me."

Before he had time to work out what the guard meant, they reached their destination and the guard unlocked the door.

"Get in there, you." The rough shove on his back caught the young man by surprise and he stumbled slightly into the dark cell. He caught himself and stood still, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

He heard the guard close the door behind him.

He heard the click of the key turning in the lock, overloud in the near silence of the cell.

Near silence? There was a sound?

Yes. The sound of soft breathing.

Then the sound of something stirring in the darkness. He tensed, wondering if this had been such a good idea after all.

A soft voice, heavily accented and with a curiously musical lilt to it, came from the shadows in front of him.

"Well now, it seems someone forgot this cell already be occupied."

To be continued


	11. A New Ally

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My humblest apologies for not updating this story in so long. Real life went crazy on both myself and my beta reader. To make up for it, here's a little status update on the progress of this story: This update contains chapters 10-12 and I've already started work on chapter 13. I also have the remainder of this whole story roughly planned out, as well as one major scene and the epilogue completely written. So it's coming together. I just need time to work on it. For those who are still reading after all this time, I thank you for your patience and hope you continue to enjoy it.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 11: A New Ally**  
By Shadow's Mirror

The young man went very still at the soft lilting voice coming from the darkness in front of him. Neither voice nor words seemed threatening, though, so he allowed himself to relax again almost immediately. "So it would seem. I hope you will forgive my intrusion."

A soft chuckle came from the darkness. "Aye. 'Tis welcome ye be. Been quite some time since I last had company."

"Oh? How long have you been here?" The young man was curious. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness of the cell and he could now make out where the other man was, at least.

"Hmm I would say about three months, now. The fake Pharaoh finally tired of me glaring at him."

The young man was surprised and made no attempt to keep that emotion out of his reply. "Fake?"

"Aye." The other's voice became soft and the young man could hear the edge of anger in it. "The one who sits on the Pharaoh's throne now be nothing more than a fake. Five years ago, he was just an advisor to the true Pharaoh. But then he got his hands on something. A magical item that made him so powerful he was able to defeat the Pharaoh in one of the Pharaoh's games. He took control. Claimed himself as Pharaoh. But he has as much right to it as a serpent to call himself a man."

"An interesting choice of words there. You do not like the new Pharaoh, then?"

A snort came from the other. "Ye could say that."

"You seem to know a lot about what happened. You were here then?"

"Aye. Been here for eight years now. But if it be my story ye wish to hear, that goes back another two years before." There was amusement in the voice. The young man smiled in response.

"Forgive me my curiosity, please. Your accent is unfamiliar to me."

A soft chuckle came before the other's reply. "Aye, it would be. I come from a land far over the sea. Tell ye what After so long without company, I nay mind telling my story to another. If ye be willing to tells yours in return? I be curious to know what ye did to be worthy of sharing my punishment."

"Of course." The young man didn't hesitate. He had no need to consider it at all. While there was a degree of secrecy to his mission, there was a very familiar feeling from this stranger and he knew instinctively that he could be trusted with the truth. Most of it, at least.

"All right, then. Ten years ago, a rival family set upon me after I dared dally with the chieftain's eldest daughter. Ah, what a fine maid she was, to be sure. My time with the fair lass be well worth the fate I received for it." A soft cough from his audience brought him back from his reverie. "I was put on a ship and sent over the sea. To 'explore new lands with a party of seasoned travellers', as it was put. But barely a month out, the ship was attacked by pirates. We fought, but they got us. They nay killed us though. Had other plans for us."

"Slave traders." The young man's soft voice gave away his disgust of such a practice, and the men who practiced it.

"Aye." The other nodded once, his voice softening again from the harsh tone that had crept into it. "Two years, I was with them. They could nay find a buyer for me. No one wanted a scrawny lad who spoke in 'tongues'."

"Lad?" There was a hint of confusion in the young man's voice. "How old were you?"

"I was barely twelve summers when I dallied with the fair Rhonwen." There was a hint of laughter in the voice.

The young man had to clear his throat before he could safely speak. Even so, there was still a trace of shock in his voice. "Twelve?"

"Aye." The other laughed softly. "The fair lass was all of nineteen and not long widowed. Seemed she missed"

He trailed off, apparently losing himself in his memories of that time. The young man cleared his throat again. "So you were eventually brought here?"

"Ah, aye. Two years was a long time for the slavers not to make a coin of profit on their investment, so they were desperate to see the back of me. When we came to this city, the first one who came along was offered a deal he could nay resist. That man brought me to the palace and the first time the true Pharaoh heard my voice, he was intrigued by me. I became his favourite slave. He taught me his language, so I could tell him of my land. He was interested in such things. It was nay a bad life, really. But then" His voice dropped to a low growl. "That serpent took over."

"But if you have only been down here for a few months the new Pharaoh kept you around?" The young man sounded both curious and puzzled.

"I made myself useful and I be smart enough to know when to keep myself out of sight and my tongue still." The voice was still low, but no longer angry. "I watched and I learned and I waited for my chance. Then, three months ago, I thought the time had come." The voice paused to sigh heavily before resuming his tale.

"I was ordered to take some wine to the fake Pharaoh's rooms. I found him distracted. So I did what any hot-blooded male from a proud warrior race would do. I tried to hit him over the head with my tray and take what gave him his power. But the she-serpent he was distracted by gave him warning. He had me locked in here after that." He sighed again. "I was a fool to take such a chance in front of one who could warn him."

"Most would not have done so. I suspect she is the one he is claiming to be his future queen."

There was a moment of silence, then a muttered word spoken in a language the young man didn't know. The way it was spoken made the meaning of the word perfectly clear, though. "To lie to a woman Be there truly no end to how low that serpent will crawl?"

"In this case, I suspect she was the one who began it by lying to herself." The young man spoke very quietly, but the sorrow in his voice was clear.

"Ye speak as if ye know the lass." Curiosity but also a hint of wariness.

"At the risk of losing a new friend, yes, I do. The one he is claiming as his future queen is my eldest sister." It was spoken on a sigh that said more of his dislike of admitting that fact than the words themselves.

Another moment of silence fell before the other man spoke again. "It seems, friend, as if your tale be far more interesting than mine." Shock mingled with curiosity in the voice, but the wariness had lifted.

"I do not know about interesting, seeing as you already know some of it. The item you spoke of Do you know where it came from?" He spoke very quietly.

"Aye. It was made for the advisor by a magician in the city. He boasted about it on the day he claimed the throne. Told the true Pharaoh that it was his own fault it had happened, because he had not recognised the talent the magician had and given him the same opportunities that he had given others. His words had a ring of truth about them. I recognised it because it be so rare to hear it from him." The young man could practically hear a wry grin in that last part.

"Yes. It was true. To a point. The advisor went to the magician claiming to be on a mission for the Pharaoh. The magician was so desperate to believe that he had finally been noticed that he ignored any misgivings he might have had. He also ignored the warnings and pleas of his eldest son, who feared the advisor had lied." The words were spoken barely above a whisper, but the sorrow mixed with a slight trace of remembered pain was still faintly detectable.

"The son was..." There was a note of wonder in the listener's voice. "But then Lad, do ye know Be there any way to stop him?" His voice had also fallen to a whisper, but there was a trace of urgency in it now.

"When he realised his mistake, Father did what he believed would make things right again. He was not an evil man. But I believe the scale of the situation made him desperate. He latched onto what he believed was a perfect plan and he was incapable of recognising the flaws in it. He made three other items. Together, they can overpower the original item. They also have the ability to cancel out anything the original item starts to do."

"What? But then, where are Wait" The original excitement gave way to understanding. "They were used. That is why the fake Pharaoh only showed off his strength for a few months. Why he was so angered after that." It was odd to hear humour in a whisper, but it was there, all the same. "Many a night I heard him throwing things in his rooms."

"Yes. Father made the items a little differently to the other one. They automatically cancelled out the original item's actions, so the Pharaoh has been unable to fully use his item since then. However, if the bearers had any evil in their hearts, then the items would not respond to them and that was all they would be able to do. Because of that, he gave the items to three women he believed were pure and virtuous." The young man sighed heavily.

"As the fake Pharaoh still be in power, I take it your father's idea of 'pure and virtuous' was like the fair Rhonwen. I shudder at the thought of there being three of her in the city, even as my mind leaps with plans to meet them all."

The young man was startled into a soft chuckle at the unexpected humour in the other's words. "Not exactly, from what you have said of your Rhonwen. Two of the three he gave the items two were just spoiled and selfish. One far more so than the other. The third, however" He sighed again. "Even I had no idea how truly evil she was." He spoke the words so softly that only the silence of the dark cell made them audible at all.

A soft gasp came from the darkness in front of him. "Not Oh lad The third was nay the she-serpent?" There was a moment of silence and then the young man could almost hear a wince in the voice as it spoke again. "How many sisters do ye have, lad?"

"Three." The word was spoken on a sigh.

When a hand clapped onto his shoulder a moment later, the young man knew he didn't need to say anymore.

When it squeezed gently, he knew that he wanted to.

"So there be nay hope at all, then?" The other was clearly disappointed.

The words made the young man consciously aware of the unfamiliar weight on his body where his father's last item rested. "I would not say that, exactly."

"Oh?"

How much more could he safely tell? A little, perhaps. But he would have to go very carefully. The other man was keenly intelligent and had already guessed quite a lot more than the young man had thought he would.

"My eldest sister is working with the Pharaoh. My second sister follows her, at least for now. My third sister, however, refuses to bend to the will of the other two or the Pharaoh. She is a captive in the palace. If she can be freed..."

"That will nay be an easy thing to do." The other man was silent for a few moments, as if considering the situation. "But it might be possible."

The young man's heart leaped at the knowledge that this stranger was willing to help, then fell as he realised it was an unexpected complication. He and his brother had already put their plan in motion, but it sounded as if this stranger had a plan of his own. He could not mention their plan, though. Although he was fairly certain that the other man was not in league with the Pharaoh, it was not a risk that he dared take. "How?"

"What time was it when ye came down here?"

It was a good question. When he thought back over the night's events, the young man was startled to realise how much had happened in only a few short hours. "Around four o'clock in the morning."

"We have been talking for around half an hour. So, another hour or so before dawn. Good. That should be time enough." The voice was still whispering, but seemed oddly cheerful now.

"Time for what?"

"For us to get out of here, find your fair sister and get away from this city." The other paused. "Or does she need to stay here? Will that magic she has work if she be far from here?"

Another good question, but at least he didn't have to think to answer it. "It would not be as effective if she was outside the city, no. But the rest of what you said, I do agree with." He frowned slightly. "The Pharaoh and my eldest sister are likely asleep by now." If they were, it was not a good time for him to make his move, but it would be the best time to get out of the dungeon. He could always hide in the palace until morning.

"Not that one. I nay know your sister's habits, but the fake Pharaoh sleeps for only a few hours each night. From around eight to midnight. Earlier if he be planning one of those games of his." A note of disgust was in his voice.

"I see. So where is he likely to be now?" The young man did his best to hide his rising excitement. If the Pharaoh was still awake, he could put his plan into action immediately.

"The throne room." No hint of hesitation in the reply. "If he nay be there, then he be in his quarters. He spends almost all of his time in those two places." The amusement was back in his voice. "For a man who was practically underfoot everywhere in the palace when he was an advisor, he took to the more ordered routine of a Pharaoh quite well."

A second chuckle was surprised out of the young man. "The throne room. Where is it? So I can avoid it." He hoped he sounded more enthusiastic about that than he thought he did.

This time, there was a slight hesitation before the reply came. "Ye be a terrible liar. Ye wish to challenge the Pharaoh."

The young man winced and sighed. It seemed he'd been right to worry about the other man's intelligence. That and being in complete darkness made it easier to hear emotions in voices. Between both, it was clearly useless to lie to this one. "Not quite. I wish him to challenge me."

"Nay. He be a strong one even five years ago. Now" There was urgency in the other's voice. "Ye would have no chance against him. The others" He trailed off, but the young man thought he knew what he'd been going to say.

"You saw, did you not? The games he has played. Some of them, at least."

"Aye." The word was barely whispered. "Terrible things. Games? Nay. Torture sessions be more like it. Each one designed to sap the will and break the mind of the victim. Lad, ye would have nay chance against him. If this be a fight to revenge your sisters or father or something"

"It is to save two worlds. For that, I would gladly risk both my life and my sanity." The young man went still. He hadn't meant to say that. He'd been thinking that it was what he couldn't say, but then he'd heard his voice speaking those exact words.

"Two worlds?"

"I"

"Do ye have it too?" Again, a note of urgency, but this time there was also hope.

"'It'?" The young man was now very confused. Did the other man mean the last item? But how could he know about that?

"The Shadow Magic. Do ye have it?" Again that urgent note.

The young man opened his mouth to reply, but then paused, realisation striking him momentarily speechless.

Too. The original question had been if he had the Shadow Magic too. Which meant

It was there. In his memory. A fragment of a conversation between two thieves that he and his younger brother had overheard while star-watching on the roof of their house, a few months earlier. About the same time as the other man had said he'd been locked down here.

His tension eased and he even managed a small smile.

"I have heard that the Pharaoh uses Shadow Games to punish any who dare defy him. I wonder why he locked you down here instead of doing that with you. Unless you're the one who managed to survive a game against him."

A soft chuckle and the hand fell on his shoulder again. "Ye be a smart one, lad. Aye. I survived. Though that nay be the same as winning. Which be why I warn ye. He be strong. I was nay strong enough to beat him. What of ye?"

"I do not know if I am stronger, but I have to try, at least. He needs to be stopped."

Perhaps it was the determination threaded through the quiet voice, or perhaps it was just that the other man agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly. Whatever the reason, it seemed to be the last bit of persuasion the other man needed.

"All right then. In that case, I throw in my lot with ye. I swear by my Gods and yours, I will get ye to that throne room. Nay I will go further." A light touch as he guided the young man to move to one side, away from the cell door.

"I swear on my name. Alasdair."

The words were spoken softly as he approached the door, but the primal roar that followed was even louder than the crash as, with one powerful roundhouse kick, the man named Alasdair smashed the door to pieces!

At the top of the stairs at the end of the dungeon, the door was thrown open. "Keep it quiet down there!" Two guards began to descend the stairs, their hands on the hilts of their blades but unsuspecting that their enemy was already out of his cell and creeping along the corridor towards them, his eyes far more accustomed to the darkness than theirs. Two quick moves and they both slumped to the ground, unconscious.

The young man stepped carefully over the splintered remains of the door and went to join his new friend and ally, as he stood in the small circle of light cast by the open dungeon door. Upon reaching Alasdair, he eyed him for a moment before one eyebrow arched. "Did I mishear or did you honestly call yourself 'scrawny' earlier?"

Although he was slightly shorter than the young man, Alasdair's body was considerably more muscular. A fact made all the more obvious by his wearing only a simple strip of cloth around his hips, as most slaves and servants did.

"Well, it has been eight years since then and I have spent most of those years carrying things around. Platters of food, casks of wine, tables..." He trailed off as the younger man's eyebrow inched higher and grinned, his light blue eyes twinkling. "Ye think, friend, the fair Rhonwen would be more upset to have been parted from me if she saw me now?"

The young man chuckled softly. "I think, friend, the fair Rhonwen would curse her family quite thoroughly for it."

The two men were still snickering as they began to set the other prisoners free.

* * *

One of the primary rules of magic is to never use your name freely. To do so, gives those who learn it control over you. But when given during the swearing of an oath, a name has another quality.

It creates a binding promise; a pact that will remain unbroken until death. If not beyond.

To be continued


	12. The Plan Proceeds

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My humblest apologies for not updating this story in so long. Real life went crazy on both myself and my beta reader. To make up for it, here's a little status update on the progress of this story: This update contains chapters 10-12 and I've already started work on chapter 13. I also have the remainder of this whole story roughly planned out, as well as one major scene and the epilogue completely written. So it's coming together. I just need time to work on it. For those who are still reading after all this time, I thank you for your patience and hope you continue to enjoy it.

**Hearts, Souls and Shadows  
Chapter 12: The Plan Proceeds**  
By Shadow's Mirror

As the older boy was meeting the man who would soon become their ally, the younger boy was meeting someone new as well.

"You're not my sister!"

He blurted the words out without thinking, but the girl showed no sign of surprise at them. She merely nodded slightly. "She should be here soon. The guard who put me in here said she would come to question me."

The boy shook his head. "No, not that sister. My youngest" He paused as his mind belatedly realised something strange. "You know who I am." A slightly puzzled frown creased his brow as studied her more carefully. "I know you too do I not?" She looked familiar. He felt as if he had seen her before. Not just once, but so often that he knew all of her movements and gestures. Including the way she blushed, bit her lip and looked away from his eyes, as she was doing at his question. Only her voice was unfamiliar to him. He had seen her but she had never spoken to him before.

"I am a servant in one of the houses near your family's home." Her voice was very soft and the words came reluctantly.

The boy considered that for a moment before shaking his head slightly. "No, that is what you are but it is not who you are. It is not how I know you." He almost had it. He just couldn't quite place her. Then she glanced at him, clearly surprised by his words and he knew. "You are the one who has been watching my brother for the past three years."

Her eyes went wide and she blushed as deeply as a female could physically blush. "I I N-no I" She looked down at her lap and her hand automatically stroked the white cat lying there. "I am just a servant. I would never presume to" She trailed off and bit her lip again.

"To fall in love with my brother? I do not think that is such a presumption." The boy spoke very gently and was rewarded by her looking at him again in wide-eyed shock.

"I do not I would never" She shook her head vigorously but was unable to deny what he had said. She bit her lip again and looked back down at the cat she was petting. "I am but a servant. He is the son of a powerful magician."

"Considering the situation, I really do not think that matters anymore." The boy sighed softly and moved from his spot by the door to join her. He dropped onto the other chair there and looked at her, his mind racing. He'd been delivered to the wrong girl. How could he fulfil his part of the plan now? "I knew it was going too smoothly."

His words were muttered under his breath, but the girl blinked and looked curious. "Did you just say something?"

"Ah. No. Just thinking aloud to myself." The boy smiled a little. "So, how did you end up here?"

The colour in the girl's cheeks had been easing, but at his question it returned full-strength. "I was in the servants' quarters of the house where I worked. I could not sleep, so went to get a glass of water. I thought I heard something outside. I peeked out the kitchen door and" She bit her lip and looked at him with worried dark eyes. "Your father was stumbling along the alley that runs beside the house. I was too scared to approach him. Forgive me. I should have done so. He must have needed help." She looked down at the cat again, biting her lip harder.

"No. It is good that you did not approach him." The boy's voice was soft, but the sadness in it coupled with his words caused her to look questioningly at him. "A lot happened tonight and Father did not deal well with any of it. His mind" He looked away. Even though the man had tried to kill him as a sacrifice to the Shadows, he was still his father and he could not bring himself to speak of the fate that had befallen the man that night.

"Oh. I am sorry." The girl's voice was soft and gentle, but her hand on his was even more so, despite the rough calluses on it from her working life.

It was just a fleeting touch, but the gesture warmed him. "Thank you. So, you saw Father and what then?"

The girl nodded. "I stood there for some time, trying to work up the courage to go and see if he needed aid. Then I heard a group of the city guards go past in the street. I was going to go and ask them to help him but when I got to the street, I realised they had stopped at your house. I was worried something bad had happened, so I circled around and watched them from the alley opposite. Only I was caught." She blushed again.

"So were we. The guards seem to have had a busy night catching people." The boy smiled a little. "Thank you for being so worried about us. I am sorry you got caught up in all this." The girl shook her head but he continued on. "When my sister speaks with you, tell her your mistress sent you out for some sweetmeats and you were taking a shortcut through the alley when a guard stopped you. She will believe that. She has sent me out so late at night for the same reason." He grinned at her. She smiled back a little and nodded.

"Thank you. I will try that." She bit her lip. "What about you? You said you were caught too. You and your brother?" She blushed again.

The boy nodded. "Yes. I was supposed to be taken to my youngest sister, but the guard who was told that passed me off to another and was not so specific in his directions. When my eldest sister comes, she will be annoyed at finding me here, but she will take her anger out on the guard, not us. Do not worry."

"Oh, no, I am not worried about that. I just" The girl bit her lip and looked at him. Despite her words, her eyes held deep concern. "Why is your sister treating you like a captive? Your brother and other sister also?"

He hesitated, trying to form a reply. She spoke again before he could. "Forgive me. That was I should not have asked. It is none of my business." Her blush was back in full and she kept her eyes trained on the cat in her lap.

"I do not blame you for being curious. It is a strange situation." The boy smiled wryly at that understatement. "My eldest sister has fallen under control of the Pharaoh, who claims he will make her his Queen. She works with him now. Father has certain information the Pharaoh wants, so he is trying to keep him close. Perhaps he believes his children know the information also. Our middle sister has gone willingly with my eldest sister, but my youngest sister is here against her will, as my brother and I are."

He knew it was safest for her if she did not know the whole truth, but at least he had been able to avoid lying outright. Everything he had said was at least partially true. As he looked at her though, a simple servant girl caught up in the mess because of her love for his elder brother, his conscience pricked him a little. She was sitting so quietly, stroking the fur of the beautiful white cat lying serenely on her lap. It was as if neither of them had a care in the world, but he was sure that it was just a mask, at least in the girl's case. She had to be very frightened. It wasn't fair to her.

The cat looked at him with her large unblinking blue eyes and began to purr. It was a comforting sound that seemed to fill his whole body with warmth. For a time, he just basked in it, as a cat basked in sunlight. When the thought finally surfaced that time was passing and he needed to be doing other things, he was surprised at how difficult it was to shake off the urge to simply stay and rest. He put it down to his exhaustion. After all, it had been a long night. Surely the slight tingle of magic he thought he could feel in the air was just his imagination. "Um forgive me for asking but that cat is?"

His question seemed to surprise the girl, who blinked at him before blinking down at the cat. "Oh." She looked at him again and smiled. "She joined me on the way here and came in to keep me company."

"Nice of her." The boy studied the cat curiously. He had never seen one so pure white before, or with such fluffy fur. "She is beautiful." He could not resist the compliment, but the cat seemed uninterested in his assessment and simply yawned as if very bored.

From somewhere in the depths of the palace came a sudden burst of noise.

The two captives looked at each other in shared confusion as the noise swelled. "What is that sound?" Now at last, the girl allowed her fear to show. The boy shook his head, unable to answer her at first. Then he frowned slightly.

"It sounds a bit like a lot of people shouting."

As they listened, another sound rose over the cacophony. Someone was running along the corridor outside. The footsteps paused outside the door and a youthful voice spoke up, almost squeaking in his excitement and urgency. "The prisoners! They've escaped from the dungeon!"

"What? What are those fools there doing? Sleeping on duty? Fine. Let's go get the rabble back in their cages." The voice was getting fainter as the guard headed off.

At the footsteps, the boy had risen from his chair and moved closer to the door to listen. Now, he turned to speak to the girl and blinked as he found her right behind him. "Something has happened."

Despite his best effort, he couldn't stop his concern from creeping into his voice. This wasn't part of the plan. He wasn't where he was supposed to be, so what if something had gone wrong for his brother as well?

The girl nodded but smiled at him. "This is our chance. They said the prisoners were escaping. We should too."

He hesitated, the sense of that suggestion warring with his knowledge that doing so would completely ruin the plan. If it wasn't already ruined. He needed to know what was going on. But he also had to get to his youngest sister and get her away from there. That was his role in the plan. He had to see it through. It was better for him to stay there and have his eldest sister take him to their youngest sister. That would be the easiest way. He would never find her on his own.

As he started to shake his head, he realised that he'd hesitated over his decision for too long. The girl was no longer behind him. Instead, she was opening the door. He blinked and joined her. "It was not locked?"

The girl looked at him, grinning. "There was a guard outside and he was expecting someone to come and question me. He didn't see the need for locking it. When he left just now, he was in such a rush, he forgot. Come on, let's go!" She had slipped outside before he could even draw breath to reply.

Again he hesitated, his choice no longer as clear. This girl was in danger because of his family. He should at least see her to safety. Surely they owed her at least that much?

A soft warmth brushed past his leg. He looked down in time to see the white cat follow the girl through the doorway. She paused on the threshold and her tail twitched. Perhaps it was the way it which it resembled a 'come here' motion, but the boy felt the strongest urge to follow. He found himself taking a step before he made himself stop.

"I have to stay here. I have to get to my sister."

He wasn't sure what made him speak aloud, or if he was trying to convince the cat or himself, but he nearly jumped when the girl poked her head back through the door and looked curiously at him.

"If you have to get to your sister, then why do you have to stay here? She's not here so wouldn't it be better for you to look for her? The guards aren't the only ones who know where she is. The servants will know too. Servants always know." She grinned at him.

He found himself grinning back, despite the seriousness of the situation. Her logic was sound. "You are right. I will join you."

As he joined her in the corridor, he noticed she was looking around and frowning slightly. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh. I guess not. I just The cat's gone." She shrugged and smiled at him. "She must have run off somewhere. Come on, if we're going to find a servant to ask about your sister, we'll have better luck downstairs. At this time of night, there should be at least a few at work in the kitchens." She didn't wait for his nod before heading off.

Bemused by her change in attitude from the initially shy servant girl to someone who appeared to be rather enjoying this unexpected adventure, the boy started to follow her. He couldn't resist one look around for the beautiful cat, first, though. Although the corridor stretched for some distance in both directions, there was no sign of her. But he had the strongest feeling that she was nearby, watching them go. Shaking the thought off as being a ridiculous notion, he hurried to catch up to the girl.

"Do you know where the kitchens here would be?" He didn't see how she could know, but she was walking as if she had some knowledge of where she was going.

"It should be on the far left side of the palace. That's where the smoke from the cooking fires comes out. I see it all the time when I walk past the palace to get to the market." The girl grinned at his look of surprise, then admiration.

"I see. That makes sense. So we are now" He thought back to all the turns the guard had took while taking him to the room. " on the right side of the palace. The dungeons are likely somewhere in the back. If the prisoners are being pursued, that is where the guards will be. So we should stay as far away from there as possible."

The girl nodded. "We'll take the first turn we see, then head along the front of the palace. That should work."

* * *

As the two younger ones headed for the kitchens, the older brother and his newfound ally were also heading out.

They'd freed all of the other prisoners. Although most of them were weakened from the poor conditions they had been forced to endure, their anger had been strong. It had fuelled the physical strength they had needed to overpower all of the remaining guards on duty near the dungeon.

The other prisoners were now making their bid for escape from the palace. With the guards all focused on recapturing them, it was the perfect diversion for the two steadily making their way towards the throne room.

The young man had quickly recognised that Alasdair's plan was better than his own. He had been content to just wait for his sister to inform the Pharaoh that he was there, confident that she would and that he would wish to see him. But there had been no guarantee that he would do so, or that he would then challenge him to a game. This way, he could be sure of meeting with the Pharaoh and with no guards around, he would also have more chance to talk his way into being challenged. His plans might have been adjusted a little, but the overall plan was still workable. As long as his little brother got their sister out of the palace safely, everything would be fine.

* * *

In the throne room, the Pharaoh scowled at the beautiful woman who had just displeased him. "What did you just say?"

"I said my brothers are not dead. They are here. I sent the younger one to my sister. We can use him to make her see reason." She pouted a little as he waved his hand and gave her an impatient look.

"Yes, yes. I got all that. I meant the last bit. What did you say you did with your other brother?" He scowled more.

"Ah. I had him locked in the deepest, darkest cell in the dungeon." Akila arched an eyebrow. "Is there a problem, my Pharaoh?"

He smiled a little and motioned for her to come closer. As soon as she did, her movements eager and her expression the smug look of one who is sure that her pouts and beauty are enough to overcome any man's temper, he lifted his hand and caressed her cheek briefly.

The force of the slap that followed knocked her head to the side and drew a shocked gasp from her. He smiled coldly at her. "It is not your place to order my guards around as if they are your own personal servants. You are not Queen yet, my dear. You would do well to remember that. As for what you have done You have just ordered your brother to be put in the same cell as the only one who has ever survived a game with me. I am not sure that was wise."

As he spoke, there was a slight disturbance at the door. One of the guards came into the room and whispered something to the Pharaoh, who nodded and replied with a curt, "Deal with them quickly." As the man left the room again, the Pharaoh fixed his eyes on the woman still holding her reddened cheek.

"It seems the prisoners in the dungeon are trying to escape. The ones leading them are the two we were just discussing. What a coincidence. Although they do not seem to be with the others. Perhaps we should plan a little welcome celebration for them, in case they show up here." His cold smile didn't reach his eyes.

The white cat sitting in the corner of the throne room swished her tail and mewed but neither the Pharaoh nor his would-be Queen took any notice of her. She curled up for a nap as the two humans began to make their plans.

To be continued


End file.
